By William Kumwembe in Washington DC, USA:
The Malawi delegation to this year’s spring meetings of the World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has placed special emphasis on luring foreign direct investment into, and courting support from development partners, on, the national agriculture, tourism, mining and manufacturing (ATMM) strategy for growth.
The policy, a government’s priority scope for growth and development, singles out the three sectors of the economy as the low-hanging fruits for national development.
It is part of the growth enablers in line with Malawi 2063—the country’s long-term development blueprint crafted to see Malawi graduate from the world’s least developed nations’ category into a middle-income economy.
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Agendas for the Malawi entourage’s side-meetings at the Bretton Woods’ semi-annual event this week are coined to necessitate sustainable growth and development.
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The four focal sectors of agriculture, tourism, mining and manufacturing, coupled with energy and transport, are given prominence as the government officials—led by Finance Minister Simplex Chithyola Banda—are selling the ATMM strategy to global partners and investors.
Chithyola Banda said the sectors are interlinks as catalysts for the desired growth.
“Energy sector, for example, is a driver for us to commercialise agriculture, improve the tourism sector and to harness the mining and manufacturing sector
“We cannot talk of value-addition in the agriculture sector; neither can we talk about its commercialisation without first having a robust energy and systematic transport system, hence, our push for support to such sectors here,” Chithyola Banda said.
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Apart from the IMF and World Bank officials, the Malawi team is scheduled to engage Opec Fund for International Development officials to conclude talks and sign a partial funding agreement for the Makanjira-Mangochi Road.
They are also earmarked to meet Kuwait government officials on the road project.
Already, a few weeks ago, Parliament gave a nod for the government to borrow $20 million (an estimated K36 billion) from Opec Fund for the project.
Also, the Malawi delegation is engaging authorities from various institutions on the $350 million energy compact aimed at increasing access to electricity to 70 percent. Under the initiative are projects such as Mpatamanga hydropower plant construction.
In an interview on the sidelines, Secretary to the Treasure Betchani Tchereni said the meetings are being held with wide ranging expectations.
“There are many other meetings, at my last count I had about 70 of them, to attend to. We meet bilaterally with other governments, financial institutions, development partners, and investors. All these have different perspectives, giving us different expectations.
“For example, we expect to meet with the Opec Fund and also Kuwait Fund, where we are likely to conclude negotiations for the Makanjira Road. We are hoping to finalise and sign the agreements,” he said.
Other notable figures from Malawi at the spring meetings are Reserve Bank of Malawi Governor Macdonald Mafuta Mwale and Malawi Revenue Authority Commissioner General Daniel Daka.
