Phillip Madinga:
A key take out from the recent National Economic Recovery Plan (NERP) conference held recently in Lilongwe is the urgent need to move from blueprint to action. The conference provided the right start.
We left with a plan. Now comes the hard part; delivery.
To deliver targets set out by the NERP, we must revive the Public-Private Dialogue Forum (PPDF) to create an institutional platform and memory through which the government and private sector galvanise their actions on economic recovery.
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The context
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The NERP identifies what needs done; restoring macroeconomic stability, treating debt, stimulating production, increasing exports, creating jobs and improving livelihoods. These objectives cannot be achieved by the government alone because central to its mandate is providing a conducive environment for the private sector to thrive.
The public and private sector should have distinct but mutually fetching obligations. The government does not create wealth; it creates conditions for wealth creation.
The private sector creates wealth, jobs, exports and investment. The private sector is the “engine” of economic growth, and the PPDF gives it its voice and the springboard on which recovery will be sustained. The private sector is primarily in business while the government provides an enabling framework for business to thrive in.
By providing order through rules, regulations and policy, the government grants private business the licence to operate. In turn, the private sector operates within these guiding principles to do business, create jobs, turn in the profit and pay the taxes that contribute to growth.
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Why the NERP needs PPDF?
The PPDF provides a structured mechanism for dialogue. It helps to identify policy and regulatory barriers, facilitates evidence-based recommendations to the government and enables coordinated action between key stakeholders.
It also promotes accountability and monitoring of agreed reforms.
Sadly, PPDF’s work had, in recent years, been overshadowed by bureaucracy and the sheer lack of political will.
This has resulted in loss of traction and inertia to deliver on identified action points.
We are coming from a background where PPDF resolutions often wound up as communiques, without ownership, deadlines or accountability.
The rude awakening has been the lesson that a beautiful and well-thought-out plan on paper rarely creates any job. Only execution does.
PPDF was created for this exact moment: to translate government policy into private-sector investment and results. Credit must go to the Malawi Confederation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry (MCCCI) for helping PPDF take its first baby steps as the “roundtable” for stakeholders.
But we must now forge ahead from here. This should be achieved by making sure that we have an effective PPDF.
The PPDF should be positioned as the principal public-private mechanism for implementing the NERP and the Malawi (MW) 2063 vision.
PPDF as dual propeller
Malawi must prioritise two things: The first immediate task is to work towards economic recovery.
How do we move out of the debt trap? How do we narrow or eliminate the imports and exports gap? Where do we cut spending to redirect resources towards meaningful productivity and export markets?
How do we harness productivity to sustain tax revenues without killing the goose that lays the golden egg—corporations and small and medium enterprises (SMEs)?
The second are the long-term goals. Like a twin-prop engine for an aeroplane, the PPDF secretariat will support implementation and follow-through of both short and long-range goals.
The short-range actions have been identified under NERP, and in the medium-to-long term, we have the MW2063 blueprint.
Obviously, the immediate priority is recovery. As the economy convalesces, focus gradually shifts to the given long-term goals outlined in the MW2063 vision.
Linking PPDF to MW2063
The MW2063 sets out to transform Malawi into an inclusively wealthy and self-reliant industrialised upper-middle-income country.
Its three pillars of agriculture c o m m e r c i a l i s a t i o n , industrialisation and urbanisation require substantial private sector investment and leadership. Without a vibrant and engaged private sector, MW2063 risks becoming a government aspiration rather than a national transformation agenda.
The PPDF supports MW2063 by providing a platform for collaboration on transformational projects, promoting private investment in productive sectors, supporting competitiveness and innovation, facilitating reforms that improve the business environment and mobilising expertise and resources beyond the government.
Financing the national recovery
Dialogue without capital is a seminar. We, as Standard Bank plc, are ready and eager to finance the priorities: We will ring-fence substantial funding, mostly private capital funding, in 2026- 2027 for lending to sectors prioritised in the Recovery Plan; Agro-processing, renewable energy, climate-smart agriculture, export manufacturing, and mining.
Moving forward
What is clear is that PPDF is what will give both NERP and MW2063 the wings to fly Malawi towards the desired destination of self-reliance and prosperity. The two can succeed only if they are genuinely public-private partnerships. The government provides leadership, policy direction and an enabling environment while the private sector drives investment, production, innovation, exports, and job creation.
The PPDF is, therefore, not simply a consultation platform—it is a strategic vehicle for ensuring that Malawi’s recovery and long-term transformation are private-sector-led, nationally owned and sustainably implemented.
About the author
Phillip Madinga is the Chief Executive of Standard Bank plc, President of the Bankers Association of Malawi and Commissioner in the National Planning Commission. He was the moderator of the recently concluded NERP Workshop convened by the Ministry of Finance, Economic Planning and Decentralisation.
