The bill for the maize: next year's CDF will be cut as the Treasury counts the cost of a bigger harvest

Government will reduce next year's Constituency Development Fund allocation below the level initially budgeted, Finance and National Planning Minister Dr Situmbeko Musokotwane has said, as the Treasury moves to contain overspending recorded this year — including maize purchases for the strategic food reserve that ran far beyond plan.

Dr Musokotwane said the Treasury would communicate the revised allocations to local authorities, to prevent councils from over-procuring and building up arrears on the strength of figures that will no longer hold. The exact size of the reduction will only be confirmed when the 2027 National Budget is tabled in Parliament.

The cut lands on one of the administration's most visible programmes. CDF has risen from K1.6 million per constituency in 2021 to K40 million in 2026, a national envelope of about K6.245 billion, which constituencies have used for classrooms, boreholes, bursaries and local empowerment schemes. Only on Friday, opening the 14th National Assembly, President Hakainde Hichilema cited that rise as evidence of development decisions moving closer to communities.

No Treasury money for the FRA

The pressure is clearest on the food reserve line. The Food Reserve Agency expanded its buying from a 500,000-tonne target to about one million tonnes this marketing season, and the Minister said there would be no Treasury funds for the agency next season. In Northern Province alone, the FRA has bought 234,000 tonnes of maize.

What has happened this year, it is like we have spent money not just for 2026 but also to cover for food security in 2027.
— Dr Situmbeko Musokotwane, Finance Minister, speaking on Friday, quoted by the Zambian Observer

Dr Musokotwane argued the stockpile, together with an anticipated poor harvest next year as El Niño bites, means the FRA will face less pressure to buy — and can sell from its stocks to fund any return to the market. Critics will note the same logic leaves farmers facing a thinner state market next season.

The squeeze does not end with CDF. The Minister said Government's limited cash position could also affect funding for road construction, and warned that spending must urgently be aligned with available revenue — which, if not corrected, could touch priority sectors including free education.

September's ledger

The September Treasury figures show how tightly the budget is already drawn. Of the K14.6 billion released that month, K5.4 billion went to the public service wage bill and another K5.4 billion to debt service and arrears — K4.1 billion to domestic debt, K625.1 million to external debt and K674.2 million to clear domestic arrears. Capital expenditure received K526.9 million, of which K459.9 million went to roads.

Transfers, subsidies and social benefits took K1.8 billion: K857 million for grant-aided institutions such as hospitals and universities, K435.8 million for the Social Cash Transfer, K200 million for the Food Security Pack and K120.8 million for the Local Authorities Equalisation Fund.

The excise duty on fuel has been restored to help ease fiscal pressures arising from the war in the Middle East.
— Dr Musokotwane, who said the measure would help sustain free education, school feeding and the Social Cash Transfer — Lusaka Times

The Minister spoke on Friday, the day Government and the International Monetary Fund reached a staff-level agreement on a new three-year Extended Credit Facility, reported by the Zambian Observer at about US$1.5 billion. Public submissions on the 2027 budget and the 2027–2029 Medium-Term Budget Plan have closed; the Treasury says it will analyse them for expenditure prioritisation and value for money.

Sources: Lusaka Times, “Government To Cut Next Year's CDF As Maize Overspend Squeezes Treasury” (12 Oct 2026); News Diggers, “No treasury funds for FRA next season – Musokotwane” (12 Oct 2026); Zambian Observer, “Next year's CDF to reduce – Government running low on cash, says Musokotwane” (11 Oct 2026).