Africa-Press – Malawi. By Benadetta Chiwanda Mia:
The Reserve Bank of Malawi (RBM) has expressed renewed optimism on achieving its medium-term goal of reducing headline inflation to 5 percent.
Malawi’s headline inflation eased from 30.7 percent in February 2025 to 27.1 percent in July.
However, the rate remains more than 20 percentage points above the central bank’s target.
Speaking on the sidelines of a Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) stakeholder engagement session in Blantyre, RBM Director of Financial Markets Chakudza Linje said despite persistent inflationary pressures, the bank remained confident in its ability to meet the medium-term objective.
“The target was set after assessing the level of inflation that would allow the country to continue producing and operating without slipping into disinflation while still maintaining a productive growth path,” Linje said.
She said measures currently being implemented are expected to ease inflationary pressure and help bring inflation down over the medium term.
“Typically, the medium term refers to a period of three to five years. We anticipate that from the upcoming quarters, some of the interventions in place will begin to yield results,” she said.
Linje also acknowledged that Malawi is grappling with a food deficit, estimated at around 700,000 metric tonnes.
This has driven food inflation, which is projected at 33.4 percent in the second quarter of 2025, contributing significantly to the overall high inflation rate.
However, she expressed confidence that government interventions—such as planned maize imports— would help ease food inflation.
“Food inflation has been on a downward trend but we’ve recently seen an uptick. That uptick is one of the upside risks the MPC assessed.
“Nevertheless, we believe the government’s measures to address the food deficit will help bring food inflation down,” she said.
Meanwhile, Economics Association of Malawi Senior Economist Lucious Pawa has said achieving the medium-term inflation target is possible if structural challenges are addressed.
“With fiscal consolidation and structural reforms, bringing inflation down to desirable levels is achievable.
“However, this requires joint efforts from monetary and fiscal authorities, as well as all other stakeholders, to guide the economy back to a stable path,” Pawa said.
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