Economists offer Malawi President guidance

Economic analysts have called on the government to ensure that it has put in place measures that can help the country to gain economic independence.
“Development partners can help us on development budget but not recurrent, what the government should do is to put in place sound macroeconomic policies to stabilise the economy,” said a Zomba based economist Exley Silumbu in an interview yesterday.
He advised the government to ensure that it accounts and controls expenditure as a short term measure to heal the country’s economy.
He said before the cash gate, the economy was on the right track, “but now there is a lot to be done. Government should ensure that they have put in place measures to account for every penny and control expenditure”
Another economist Collen Kaluwa said the government should scrutinise the automatic pricing mechanism on fuel to see whether it is important to continue with it or not.
“As a country, we rely on road transport to import and export commodities, therefore it is important to scrutinise as to whether or not the system should continue. Since the system was introduced, most of the time after review, the price of fuel goes up,” he said.
Kaluwa also said the government should look at domestic aggregate demand,
“local products should be promoted, and at the end more people will get employment.”
“It is also important for government to revamp public works programme, because this empowers the rural community financially,” he said.
Kaluwa also said government should ensure that interest rates have gone down.
“Government also needs to introduce mechanisation of agriculture. We should move away from the Farm Input Subsidy Programme because it promotes subsistence farming which cannot take this country anywhere,” he said.
Economics Association of Malawi president Edward Chilima said through a statement that the country would need to see a drop in interest rates in order for businesses to invest.
He added that Malawi’s Stock Exchange would also need to stabilise to allow businesses to be able to make predictions pertaining to their business endeavours.
Chilima also commented on the country’s need to identify its business niche and exploit its strengths in order to bolster its economic relevance.
He drew parallels with Kenya which has made a success of floriculture and is now a major exporter of flowers such as roses to the rest of the world.
He asserted that it was therefore necessary for Malawi to find a similar strength and invest its resources into that sector in order to harness its potential.
(BNL Times)