An International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission that was in the country until yesterday has faulted the Malawi government for failing to meet agreed targets on social spending, saying the targets were missed during the second quarter ending December 31 under the country’s programme with IMF.

IMF Mission Chief for Malawi Tsidi Tsikata told a press conference in Lilongwe, this morning, that although Malawi’s performance under the programme was generally satisfactory during the quarter, the government missed targets on reserve money and social spending.

“The indicative targets on reserve money and on government social spending were missed by small margins,” said Tsikata, adding: “The authorities indicated that after a delay, social protection programs have been successfully scaled up.”

He said the mission has since reached staff-level understandings with the authorities on policies for completing the second ECF review.

Tsikata said consideration by the IMF’s Executive Board is tentatively scheduled for late March and that completion of this review will enable Malawi to receive a disbursement of about US$20 million from the IMF.”