The country’s top economists as well as civil society organisations and development partners gathered in Lilongwe for the High Level Dialogue and Hearing on Malawi’s Economic Recovery and Growth Conference.
The meeting came barely four months after Malawi secured an Extended Credit Facility programme with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and was opened by Finance Minister Simplex Chithyola Banda.
The meeting discussed issues such as how best Malawi could make the most of the current ECF programme.
During the meeting, it was observed that despite securing a number of ECF programmes, only two have been successful.
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British High Commissioner to Malawi Fiona Ritchie said what Malawians should understand is that the country is on a narrow path to growth and that what is critical is to keep the eye on the prize of long-term economic growth.
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She said there would be some pain in the short term and that the UK and other partners are here to cushion that as much as possible.
“The long-term growth that I am talking about has to be led by the private sector. We have to focus on making life easier for Malawi’s exporters. And this, I understand, may not be visible to Malawian citizens in the short term but it is this kind of approach, that is focusing on the private sector taking the lead that will improve the foreign currency situation in the country or bring in revenue.
“It will increase tax and, more importantly, it will create jobs for Malawians that desperately need them. Development partners are here to catalyse that as much as possible,” Richie said.
Oxfam Executive Director Lingalireni Mihowa said the meeting is a civil society initiative led by Oxfam with five CSOs namely Ecama, Mejn, Csat, Yas and Cisanet aimed at giving the government perspectives to help Malawi make the most of the ECF as well as moving towards ways of recovering the economy quickly, in addition to diversifying it.
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Mihowa said the CSOs believe that it is important that everyone pulls together to search for solutions to get this country to its vision as enshrined in the Malawi 2063.
“We look forward to sustenance of the momentum in the implementation of the Malawi programme under the Extended Credit Facility with the IMF. In this regard, we hope for the best in Malawi meeting the agreed targets so that the IMF July board can receive our report, consider it positively based on our performance and that we can have the next disbursement coming through.
“We look forward to courageous steps in public debt management to stop any increases on debt, promote increased parliamentary oversight on government borrowing, loan authorisation bills in line with the country’s commitments in the Open Government Partnership,” Mihowa said.
She observed that the CSOs expect a more robust implementation of the Ifmis rollout to all ministries, departments and agencies.
According to Mihowa, the CSOs expect increased transparency on procurements and beneficial ownership.
“We acknowledge efforts that are being made to reform Affordable Inputs Programme. However even in its rationalised and revised state, the AIP is still a major cost burden on a tight deficit budget.
“And we hope quicker and bold steps are taken to move more resources from AIP to more productive social protection programmes,” Mihowa said.
Budget and Finance Committee Deputy Chairperson Ishmael Mkumba said adherence to the ECF guidelines is important but not easy.
He said his committee will play its rightful role in ensuring that Malawi stays the course on the ECF programme.
