Africa-Press – Malawi. Malawi President Lazarus Chakwera has reiterated his optimism to resuscitate the country’s economy which many of his critics claim is on its death bed. Several factors have been cited to have deepened the country’s economic crisis over the recent years.
The emergence of Covid-19 pandemic, erratic rainfall patterns punctuated by devastating cyclones and some political crisis shortly before Chakwera -who is also Malawi Congress Party (MCP) president- rose to power all took a toll on the economy and any attempts of recovery to it.
But even amid the Russia-Ukraine crisis that has heavily impacted negatively on the global economy, the Malawi leader still hopes there is some light at the end of the tunnel.
In his Tuesday report to the Southern African nation, also posted on his official Facebook page, Chakwera emphasized on the need to approach the crisis with concerted efforts; adding his administration would not leave any stone unturned in its attempt to resuscitate the economy.
“I dedicated my time exclusively to one major issue affecting Malawians: the economy,” he said, seemingly aware that the nation holds him accountable for his every action.
“Toward that end, I held a meeting with the Vice President, Right Honorable Dr. Saulos Klaus Chilima, to exchange notes on how to align the progress I made on charting a recovery path for Malawi when I met the International Monetary Fund’s Managing Director in the USA two months ago and the progress the Vice President himself made in lobbying for support for that recovery plan when he met the International Development Finance Corporation’s CEO in the USA two weeks ago,” he added.
Chakwera explained that following Tuesday’s meeting with his second-in- command, the two have resolved to jointly make further progress on designing solutions for the problems in the country’s economy, as well as preparing for the visit by a team from the IMF coming up later this month.
Chakwera said: “Among other things, I have also invited the Vice President to join me for my regular meeting with the Minister of Finance and the Governor of the Reserve Bank tomorrow morning to that effect.”
Chakwera has also instructed the Presidential Delivery Unit, a think-tank he set up in his office primarily to lead in the implementation of the economic recovery plan his administration recently formulated, to engage an extra gear.
Among others, the president personally met the development unit, headed by Colleen Zamba, who -by living true to his campaign promises towards improving the gender disparity in leadership in the pubic sector space, is one of the numerous women appointed to head a government ministry or department since Chakwera ascended to the presidency in July 2020.
Said Chakwera: “I have thus instructed the unit to conduct a series of Delivery Labs next month, focused on removing existing bottlenecks that are hindering or delaying the implementation of investments and the growth of business in the private sector.”
One of the country’s reputable dailies, The Nation, last week quoted the President as attributing to the country’s infrastructural development drive to have seemingly taken off at a snail’s pace owing to some unscrupulous officers within the system that were deliberately frustrating his efforts.
In the article on Chakwera’s recent return from his four-day state visit to the neighboring Mozambique, the President admitted that procurement hitches have delayed several projects; citing the Marka to Bangula Railway Project which had March this year as its completion deadline.
“President Chakwera says he is glad that finally, the contract for the rehabilitation of the Marka to Bangula railway line has been signed,” the paper read.
“Malawi needs to move with speed after signing international agreement such as the rehabilitation of this railway line. The line connects Malawi to the port of Beira,” Chakwera is quoted as saying.
In his report from his Tuesday endeavors, the President however warned that his administration will have to hurt some quarters in the country’s economic recovery drive.
“Let it be known that there is no medicine my administration is not prepared to administer to Malawi’s ailing economy in order to bring about recovery in the long term, even if it means swallowing some bitter pills in the short term,” said Chakwera.
Malawi, with agriculture as its economic mainstay, has-for ages- been heavily reliant on tobacco exports before the gospel of crop diversification amid climate change and increased anti-smoking campaigns geadually wilted the country’s green gold over the last decade, or so.
Local economists argue that the country can still find its feet by supporting its Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), including nurturing its informal sector for increased socio-economic growth; a move that the Chakwera-led administration has already embraced.
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