Malawi tipped on recovery, growth

The Malawi Economic Justice Network (Mejn) has reiterated the need for the country to capitalise on trade partnerships and integration in its quest to become a middle-income economy by 2030.

The call comes ahead of the Conference for Least Developed Countries to be hosted by Qatar from March 5, when Malawi will participate.

Mejn Executive Director Bertha Lipipa Phiri said in an interview on Friday that having been impacted by Covid pandemic, the Russo-Ukrainian War and climate change lately, more is needed on the recovery path.

“Malawi continues to export few or raw commodities. That way, our economy cannot grow.

“We need to put in place trade infrastructures by ensuring that we boost business activities and utilise secondary small and medium enterprises that are informal, and organise them to maximise on the revenue to feed into the economy to add value to Malawi’s GDP,” Phiri said.

She said at the forthcoming conference, Malawi needs to harmonise the negotiations with other countries in the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) to best integrate with the Sadc region so that the trade and economy is well coordinated for better results.

Spokesperson for the Ministry of Trade Mayeso Msokera said Malawi is committed to the cause of regional integration and that is why the government ratified regional trade agreements such as African Continental Free Trade Area AfCFTA and Sadc.

“At the LDC5 conference, Malawi intends to establish and strengthen partnerships with her trading partners in order to improve esports of made in Malawi products.

“More importantly, Malawi will work towards securing support towards national and regional programmes with other LDCs that can be implemented to build their capacities and develop their export competitiveness within the flexible conditions,” Msokera said.

The Permanent Representative of the Republic of Malawi to the United Nations Agnes Mary Chimbiri-Molande said the conference is an essential platform for Malawi to popularise itself among peer countries.

The category of least developed countries was officially established in 1971 by the UN General Assembly with a view to attracting special international support for the most vulnerable and disadvantaged members of the UN family.

Malawi is the chair country for the LDCs and President Lazarus Chakwera is expected to attend the conference.—Mana