By Kingsley Jassi:
Chief Executive Officer for Malawi Stock Exchange-listed Standard Bank, Phillip Madinga has expressed worry over a ‘murky’ outlook for the local economy.
He said there is a need for meaningful conversations to find effective solutions to economic woes facing Malawi.
Madinga was speaking on the sidelines of the bank’s donation of K20 million to Malawi University of Science and Technology (Must) for its endorsement fund that has grown to K4.9 billion.
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Madinga said some of the bank’s customers face uncertainty after the US government aid policy changes, closing keg foreign currency sources.
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With industrial productivity currently slowing down as a result of the long standing forex and raw material woes, coupled with high inflation rate, the new geopolitical conditions are expected to worsen the economic situation, according to Madinga.
However, he expressed optimism that with the right response to the situation and collaboration, the country can come out of the situation stronger and vibrant, calling the nation to stop the aid mentality.
“While optimistic, I’m also cautious about what is happening around us. We need to solve the challenges that we are facing,” Madinga urged.
He further explained: “There is a lot of uncertainty, it is turbulent but I always believe that it is in the time of chaos where opportunities come. We need to talk a little more and begin to think as institutions, the private sector together with government on what we need to do to stop our reliance on aid and grants because once we wean ourselves from aid we will be able to solve our problems.”
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Madinga believes that the country needs to up the industrialisation efforts to increase production that can boost exports and lower inflation to stabilize and grow the economy.
“We need to deal with the issue of food shortage in this country because food inflation is what is affecting the economy. Am hoping that there will be a lot of conversations and we have already started,” Madinga said.
The bank is supporting various industrial and innovative initiatives at Must, hoping that the institution will be able to contribute significantly to the industrialisation efforts.
Must Vice Chancellor Address Malata said through initiatives like the setting of the endowment fund, the university will make investments in production, apart from providing scholarships, with an end goal to hit the export market.
She said the current flagship project of developing a state of the art industrial park will resume and be completed this year.
