Donors urge Malawi to build vibrant economy
The country’s development partners have urged Malawi to build a vibrant economy that offers a value proposition to private sector investors who can generate good quality jobs to the emerging young generation.
World Bank Country Manager, Greg Toulmin, who is the current Chair of Development Partners’ Troika, made the observation in Lilongwe yesterday at the start of the Fourth Development Cooperation Group meeting.
Toulmin said among development challenges donors see is continuing deep poverty of many Malawians especially in rural areas.
He added that despite registering some progress Malawi’s Human Capital still has a long way to go.
“However, tackling these issues will be impossible unless the country can generate more wealth; both public and private, that can be drawn on to do so.
“So, building a vibrant economy that offers a value proposition to private sector investors, who can generate good quality jobs to the emerging young generation is also essential,” Toulmin said.
He said securing benefits from such progress depends on a stable macroeconomic environment, with strong and transparent governance of public resources and full participation of all parts of society including women and young people.
Toulmin underscored the need for Malawi to ensure that social protection and resilience are well harmonised and coordinated to maximise their ability to help build a flexible economy that better withstands and recovers from shocks.
He added that establishing a new vision for the country can have a powerful motivating force, if it is one that people can rally around.
“Many other countries have shown the motivational effect of a Vision that is credible, and well communicated, and to which the government demonstrates commitment, through both its words and its actions.
“Building Malawi’s Human Capital endowment is critical for Malawi to address the needs of its citizens and allow individual Malawians to thrive and have meaningful and rewarding lives. The rate of Malawi’s demographic transition is lending real urgency to accelerating progress on this agenda,” Toulmin said.
Secretary to Treasury, Cliff Chiunda, said the DCG is one of the important structures for facilitating dialogue on development cooperation in Malawi.
Chiunda said the multi-stakeholder group meets twice a year to prepare the work of the High Level Forum on Development Effectiveness (HLF), follow up actions from the High Level Forum agree on topical issues, and discuss key issues emerging from sector working groups.
He said one of the major challenges affecting Malawi’s implementation of various projects is the shortage of resources and expressed hope that the development partners would help fill the gaps.
