The 2010/11 budget tightrope

Essentially, Matambo is required to share a national cake that has shrunk by an estimated 8.2 percent since his predecessor performed the same task on February 2, 2009. The country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) declined last year, with economic performance weighed down by lower government revenues and budget deficit that burst past P10 billion during the year.

The smaller cake can also be seen in the anticipated lower figures Matambo has to work with. Last year, government revenues were expected to come in around P24.4 billion, from which P37.8 billion was due to be spent on both the recurrent and the development budget, financed in part by loans and national savings.