Donors will not resume budgetary support to Malawi until it establishes "a reasonably sound public finance system," says Alexander Baum, ambassador of the European Union to the southern African country. Donors in 2013 suspended aid that made up 40 per cent of Malawi's budget over the so-called Cashgate, a corruption scandal involving the theft of at least 25 million dollars in government funds. "The effect of the financial crisis in Europe and fiscal pressure on our budgets have made European donors tighten their attitude," Baum told dpa. "We are tougher now than we used to be."
