By Chimwemwe Misomali:
The National Planning Commission (NPC), a public entity mandated to craft and oversee implementation of the country’s long-term development plans, remains hopeful that aspirations in the Malawi 2063 first 10-year Implementation Plan (MIP-1) are attainable amid current economic challenges.
This comes as the commission reported a 43 percent progress in the roll out of the plan in its 2023-24 progress report.
The report shows that at the current fragile trend of economic growth, Malawi will reach middle-income status by 2045.
It notes that if the local economy was to start swelling consistently by 6 percent per annum for the next six years, Malawi would reach middle-income status some six years later in 2036.
But addressing journalists in Blantyre last week, NPC Director General Thomas Munthali said the commission is working tirelessly with various government entities and the private sector to make sure that MIP-1 is actualised by the year 2030.
“What it requires to meet the middle-income economy by 2030 is growth rates that will be more incremental than what we have now. The issue is about focusing on certain sectors that can help us accelerate this.
“We are grateful to the leadership that has realised that in order to do that agriculture, tourism, mining and manufacturing (ATM and M) will be key sectors. If we focus on the ATM&M, we are assured that investments in those areas can catapult, especially the mining area where two mining agreements have been signed recently, sending a signal that Malawi is ready for mining business,” Munthali said.
The World Bank predicted that the Malawi economy would grow at 2 percent in 2024 instead of the desired 6-10 percent that will enable Malawi to become a lower-middle income country by 2030.
The World Bank attributed the low growth to limited availability of agricultural inputs and the impact of prolonged dry spells during the growing season which resulted in reduced agricultural output.
The World Bank further stated that the continued liquidity challenges in foreign exchange markets are also expected to continue, in turn affecting the importation of raw materials and production inputs, constraining economic activity in industry and services.
MIP-1 which is embedded in the vision of making Malawi an inclusively wealthy and self-reliant nation by 2063 was launched in November 2021.
It aims to meet two key milestones which are: To raise the country’s income status to lower-middle level by 2030 and to meet most of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) whose end line target is 2030. The plan also aspires to realise agricultural productivity and commercialisation, industrialisation and urbanization with mindset change as its first enabler.
