By Kingsley Jassi:
The country’s trade policy, which expired three years ago, is under review ahead of the development of the new one but stakeholders call for involvement.
The outdated policy’s objective was to address the key constraints to trade that are supportive of broader development goals.
According to the policy, this would be achieved by eliminating trade barriers, reducing trading costs, facilitating investment, among others.
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However, there is dissatisfaction among some trade associations on how the policy performed but the Ministry of Industry and Trade said a review process on its performance was completed and a draft report was done ahead of dissemination before the end of the year.
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Meanwhile, some government officials are in Geneva, Switzerland, where they went for policy review meetings, according to Principal Secretary Christina Zakeyo Chatima.
Traders have since expressed frustration over lack of their involvement.
According to Executive Secretary of National Association of Small and Medium Enterprises William Mwale, SMEs were not acquainted with the old policy which was short of dissemination to stakeholders.
“We have not really been involved in the review process and have limited awareness of the policy,” Mwale said.
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He, however, suggested that the new policy should address several issues that are currently impeding SMEs and trade activities in general.
He cited the transportation costs due to lack of direct flights to key markets, low trade facilitation and high cost of trading as some key challenges.
On his part, Chairperson for Cross-border Traders Association Steve Yohane said there is aneed to incorporate other issues in the next policy, citing gender and youth specific matters that were not in the expired policy.
He further said traders are still facing different forms of challenges like abuse when passing through numerous check points on the roads of Malawi and high tax rates.
Trade policy expert from the Ministry of Industry and Trade, Curthbert Chirwa, said in a written response that a consultant’s report will show how the old policy performed and areas to consider in the next blueprint.
“Currently, the consultant has finalised the review exercise and submitted a draft report to the ministry, waiting for a stakeholder validation/dissemination workshop to be held soon before December 2024. The dissemination workshop will also discuss the design of the new National Trade Policy,” he said.
Malawi’s trade has dropped during the policy period as exports have declined from $1.45 billion in 2014 to $1.1 billion in 2023.
However, this is attributed to weather related shocks that have been affecting agricultural output in recent years during which Covid also impacted heavily on trade activities.
