Consumer rights body, Consumers Association of Malawi (Cama), and the Centre for Social Concern (CfSC) have warned of elevated pressure on cost of living in the foreseeable future on the back of ever ring commodity prices in the country.
This is coming at a time inflation has been rising in recent months, reaching 28.4 percent in July 2023.
Year-on-year, the inflation figure is 3.8 percentage points higher than the 24.6 percent recorded in July 2022.
As at June 2023, a family of six living in an urban setting needed not less than K378,812 to survive per month.
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In an interview Wednesday, Cama Executive Director John Kapito said the high cost of living is perpetuated by the country’s insatiable appetite for foreign products, coupled with the government’s excessive borrowing.
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In a separate interview, CfSC Project Officer Kondwani Hara said rising food prices continued to pile pressure and pushed headline inflation up.
He said, to contain the pressure, there is a need to establish sector based-minimum wages.
“To get to the bottom of the problem, we need to develop sectors such as mining and agriculture that could boost the country’s foreign exchange reserves.
“Malawi is endowed with a lot of mineral resources that, if harnessed, could transform the economy while in the agriculture sector we need to embrace irrigation farming to boost food security that could reduce the cost of living by checking the cost of maize on the market,” Hara said.
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Government spokesperson Moses Kunkuyu said the country needs to produce more food and that timely rolling out of the Affordable Inputs Programme will help Malawians realise good harvests should they receive adequate rain.
“The launch of the mega farms is another important area that will enhance food production and drive down the prices of food,” Kunkuyu said.
