The Zero Deficit Budget of Malawi (ZDB) was a financial strategy laid out by Minister of Finance Ken Kandodo of Malawi in 2011 under the Bingu wa Mutharika administration that is based on zero-based budgeting.
[1] This was a new approach to economic financial budgeting for 'least developed countries' where the government aimed to finance all the recurrent expenditures using its own domestic resources.
The Economics Association of Malawi noted that although the budget was based on four important cornerstones: 1) global economic outlook; 2) Millennium Development Goals (MGDs) priorities; 3) fiscal discipline with clearly spelt expenditure controls and 4) prioritising allocation of resources towards revenue generating areas".
[2] Former finance minister of Malawi Friday Jumbe noted that "the concept in itself is not bad, but that the move seems to be reactionary to potential donor freeze."
He also noted that social sectors like education and health will be the most affected by these austerity measures.