Private sector players have been challenged to leverage on opportunities in the economy to narrow the country’s trade deficit and boost foreign exchange reserves.
This came out during the Business Leaders’ Summit organised by the Malawi Confederation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry (MCCCI) last week.
Making a presentation titled ‘Re-orienting Businesses for Export Production’, Press Corporation Limited Chief Executive Officer Ronald Mangani challenged industry players to prioritise innovative export-focused production.
He emphasised the need for an honest government–private sector dialogue on addressing constraints to private investment and export promotion.
Mangani further said there should be focus on value addition, quality for export markets, taking advantage of integration opportunities, trade between local and export sales while accepting that there will be opportunity costs.
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“The private sector is the engine for economic growth. The economy is not growing; it means the private sector is not meeting what is required to grow the economy.
“Rather than sit and curse the darkness or complain about the environment, there is a need to take advantage of the opportunities that exist so that the government should create more opportunities,” Mangani said.
In her presentation titled ‘Producing for Import Substitution’, Old Mutual Malawi Chief Executive Officer Edith Jiya highlighted that there is potential to develop the agriculture value chain and key industries that can locally provide substitutes for imports.
She emphasised on the Mega Farm initiative and industrialisation of the agriculture sector beyond subsistence farming, climate change-resilient farming methods and large-scale organic fertiliser production as a substitute for large fertiliser bills that the country has experienced.
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“There is a need to develop industries to produce for import substitution, ensure proper skills development training which can improve competitiveness and industrial capacity. We also need to harness Malawi’s climate, solar and wind generated power, as a cheaper substitute to imported fuels, focus on llocally produced cement, steel, and timber and develop mineral processing and value addition of uranium, coal and rare earth minerals, reducing finished product imports,” Jiya said.
She added that private sector players should join hands to make significant investments in areas that are capital intensive such as energy.
This is coming at a time Malawi’s import cover has been seen shrinking, reaching 0.57 percent in February 2024.
Recent figures from the World Bank indicate that Malawi had a total export bill of $1 billion and total imports bill of $3 billion leading to a negative trade balance of -$2 billion.
