By Staff Writer:
President Lazarus Chakwera believes Malawi’s ailing economy is slowly responding to treatment that his administration is administering through a range of economic policies.
Chakwera made the remarks when he presided over the official opening of the 32nd Malawi International Trade Fair at the Chichiri Trade Fair grounds in Blantyre on Thursday.
The Malawi leader likened Malawi’s economy to a person who has been bedridden for a long time but slowly has now started responding to medication.
“In the case of a patient who is in a coma caused by malaria, the signs of recovery may start with the patient opening their eyes for the first time; then after a while, the patient’s fever starts to clear; then a while after that, the appetite returns and the patient is able to eat soft foods; then a while after that, the joint aches, headaches, and general physical weakness may start to disappear; then after that, an appetite for solid food may return, followed perhaps by the end of open bowels; and then you see the patient starting to sit up on their own; and so on and on it goes until the patient is fully recovered.
“That is what physical recovery looks like, but we must remember that it is the same with economic recovery.
“As you all know, Malawi’s economy has been sick and bedridden for a long time. When I took office, the symptoms of our economy’s chronic illness and multiple organ failure were everywhere: four million young people were unemployed and stampeding each other in the parking lot of any place offering a few jobs; businesses had been closing across our cities for many months; incomes for the lowest paid had been stagnant for years, while foreign direct investments into Malawi had been in recession just as long.
“And then on my arrival, we immediately started hooking up this patient to some drips, and as the medicine of new economic policies, projects, and programmes was making its way through the system, it has felt like nothing is changing. But we have refused to let that discourage us, because we knew that sooner than later, a period of true recovery would kick in and we would see the symptoms of sickness begin to subside one by one.
“And one of the symptoms now beginning to subside in our economy is the heavy loss of trade. But because we have kept the economy on some good medicine, including the medicine of a robust pro-investment policy, we are now seeing this symptom of dying trade subside.
“As a case in point, last November I went to Durban to participate in the 3rd Intra-African Trade Fair, which was put together by the Afrexim Bank in collaboration with the African Union and the Secretariat of the African Continental Free Trade Area.
“Our purpose was to aggressively chase after investors, and when we succeeded in securing the largest investment deal of any country attending that event, and even closed 2021 with an increase in investment of over ten percent, it signalled to the world that Malawi’s economy was starting to recover,” said the Chakwera.
Chakwera then reminded Malawians that the fruits the country is currently enjoying should serve to encourage government to stay on course in putting in place policies that not only foster a conducive environment for foreign domestic investment, but that also increase the ease of doing business in the country.
“The importance my administration attaches to private sector led economic development is also the reason why the Presidential Delivery Unit (PDU) in my office conducted a series of Private Sector Labs just last month to hear directly from you, our captains of industry, about the obstacles that stand in the way of growth for you businesses, because my job as President is to ensure that Government lifts those barriers. Whether the barriers you face relate to tax, or foreign exchange, or exports, or digitization, or access to energy, or access to finance, my Administration will not stop pushing until they are out of the way,” he said.
Chakwera has since revealed that plans are now underway to convene a Delivery Lab focused on Small and Medium Scale Enterprises(SME) and Co-operatives as arguing SMEs play a key role in the in the growth of an economy towards middle-income status.
Meanwhile, Chakwera has expressed optimism that once rehabilitation works of the damaged Kapichira dam are completed by Christmas this year, the issue of persistent power blackouts will be history there by increasing investment opportunities into the country.
“With the US$60 million my Administration has secured from the World Bank for the rehabilitation of Kapichira Hydro Dam which was damaged by Tropical Storm Ana earlier this year, we expect that the long blackouts currently being experienced will be resolved by Christmas. Once that happens, we will get back on track with our goal to raise our power generation capacity to 1000MW by 2025, and that will make a big difference in the productivity of our industries and their capacity to trade within and across our borders,” he said.
Speaking earlier Trade and Industry Minister Mark Katsonga encouraged players in the private sector to diversify if they are to survive on the market.
The Malawi International Trade Fair returns after a two-year break due to the Covid-19 pandemic and this year the fair is being held under the theme ‘Achieving business resilience through market diversity’.
198 exhibitors have turned up for this year’s fair with 182 being local while 16 are foreign companies.
Before delivering his speech President Chakwera awarded some outstanding exhibitions with SEEDCO Malawi Company emerging as the overall best local exhibitor.
Other companies that were also awarded for outstanding performances were Lilongwe dairy as well AGCOM.
