The National Planning Commission (NPC) has reiterated that a business as usual approach will only make Malawi’s prospects for prosperity a far-fetched dream.
In his presentation during a MW2063 meeting with Southern Region religious leaders yesterday in Blantyre, NPC development planning manager Sipho Billiat said the current growth trends would only make Malawi a middle-income economy by 2045.
This is 15 years beyond what government aspires through the First 10-year implementation plan (MIP-1) covering the years 2020-2030.
He said: “We could meet the 2030 target by 2045 if we continue growing the way we are growing. What we need as an economy is to reverse the situation strategically by making strategic investments and sacrifices.
“This is all about mindset change and faith leaders have a very big role to play. For a vision to succeed, 10 percent of the work is from developiong the plan while 90 percent is from implementation.”
Malawi has been on a quest to turn into a wealthy, self-reliant, industrialised upper-middle-income economy by 2030 as outlined in the Malawi 2063 (MW2063).
NPC, who are implementers of MW2063, said the local economy needs to grow by at least 10 percent annually in the next six years, from an earlier projection of six percent, if the country is to attain a middle- income status.
However, in recent years, Malawi’s economy has grown by an average of two percent due to internal and external shocks.
For Malawi to graduate into the lower middle-income bracket it needs to reach a gross national income (GNI) per capita of $1 086.
However, NPC data shows that between 2018 and 2023, while GNI per capita increased by 25 percent from $500 to $623.
Meanwhile, NPC director of development planning Grace Kumchulesi said the MW2063 is attainable if people are knowledgeable about the vision and own it.
“There is increased ownerships, but more can be done. We are expecting increased ownership after this meeting, and also a more positive attitude towards development,” she said.
On his part, presidential adviser on religious affairs the Reverend Brian Kamwendo said with 98 percent of the population religious, faith leaders are key stakeholders in mindset change.
“Engaging religious leaders is strategic,” he said.
Through MW2063, Malawi envisions to be “an inclusively wealthy and self-reliant nation” by 2063. The strategy is premised on three inter-related and inter-dependent pillars of agricultural productivity and commercialisation, resource-based industrialisation and urbanisation.
