The National Planning Commission (NPC) has said embracing the spirit of wealth creation could be key to advancing the economic independence agenda.
This comes as Malawi has cerebrated 59 years of independence.
In an interview, NPC Director General Thomas Munthali said, over the years, Malawi’s efforts towards economic independence have been painstakingly slow.
According to Munthali, some of the main reasons for the slow efforts have been that the country has not diversified its economy fast enough so that it could be built into a resilient economy that can withstand exogenous shocks.
This, Munthali said, has largely been the case because the business environment has mostly not been conducive for macroeconomic and policy implementation.
“But worse has been that we have left the economy in the hands of the private sector even when market failures are so glaring. The market failures require State intervention with trail-brazing investments in all strategic sectors of the economy in strong alliance with the private sector (operationalising a developmental state philosophy).
“So we have been sharing poverty over the years, relying on donors and debt to fund our development needs, leading to half of the population living below poverty for all these years,” Munthali said.
The NPC chief notes that Malawi needs a commercially viable Admarc, devoid of politics and running on business principles with a private sector partner.
“[We need] our own mining company with special purpose vehicles operated in alliance with the private sector; and our own Development Corporation to trail-braze investments in the other strategic sectors of the economy like tourism.
“Once we create wealth, we can manage exogenous shocks and build capacity of our institutions including local assemblies to deliver on socio-economic amenities for our people,” Munthali said.
On Thursday, President Lazarus Chakwera demanded hard work from the citizenry if Malawi is to transform economic fortunes.
Chakwera urged Malawians to love their country, saying only Malawians can change the economic trajectory of Malawi.
Malawi remains trapped among the world’s poorest countries despite enjoying political independence and peace over the past 59 years.
