The Reserve Bank of Malawi (RBM) has called on commercial banks in the country to increase lending to productive sectors of the economy, including the development of mega farms.
RBM Governor Wilson Banda was speaking recently in Mangochi when he opened the 2023 Bankers Association of Malawi (Bam) annual lakeshore meeting.
Banda said despite numerous challenges which Malawians are facing due to global economic challenges, commercial banks remain resilient and have capacity to feed into the other sectors of the economy.
“This is the time for the banks to start investing in the people so that the people can also benefit from the resources that are revolving in the financial sector. It does not make sense to have an economy where the banks are making profits, yet the common man is suffering,” he said.
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The central bank governor said commercial banks should come up with soft loan conditions targeting small and medium enterprises who are struggling to access seed capital for their businesses.
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“Banks should support the [agriculture] sector by financing mega farms so that Malawi taps into the available market for agricultural produce at the international level,” Banda said.
Bam president Macfussy Kawawa said financial institutions were deploying efforts towards the national financial inclusion agenda.
Kawawa said, already, most commercial banks introduced agency-banking services in rural areas to cater to the masses in places where there are no banking halls.
“We are going into rural areas with banking. On financing small enterprises, we have banks that have various services including offering start-up loans to Malawians,” he said.
