Upon assuming the presidency in 2004, Bingu wa Mutharika (deceased) set out to revive the country’s manufacturing sector and instil a sense of national pride by encouraging consumption of locally-made products.
His desire was to transform the country from being a predominantly importing and consuming economy to a predominantly manufacturing or producing and exporting one.
Thus, the OLD Best Buy Malawian initiative was revived.
For some reason, however, the initiative did not take off the ground with the bang that was envisaged. It was almost stillborn.
Come 2015, the rebranded Buy Malawi Strategy was launched to encourage local production and consumption of locally-made products some of which could even be exported.
However, it is disheartening to learn f rom Un i ted Nat ions Development Programme (UNDP) resident representative Fenella Frost that a decade later, there has been little acceptance and embracing of the Buy Malawi Strategy by Malawians.
We as a people have failed to take pride in local brands and providing resources to drive the initiative’s momentum.
Perhaps it is time to undertake an honest soul-searching of why the initiative is struggling despite Malawi having had strategies aimed at stimulating local production to increase export base while at the same time striving to boost import substitution.
Four or so years ago, the National Export Strategy II (NES II) was launched to boost the share of exports in the gross domestic product (GDP) to 20 percent by 2026, about eight months from today.
Through the NES II, the focus is on markets which present good opportunities to products and services made in Malawi, targeting neighbouring countries, regional markets, European Union market, USA, Russia, the Middle East, Asia and emerging markets such as Canada, Australia and Switzerland.
But even exports to some of the traditional markets such as the United Kingdom (UK), China and the USA have either been declining or stagnating.
For example, in 2023 exports to the UK were just $10 million, representing a 52.4 percent drop over the previous year and a 100 percent drop from the NES II base year of 2019 when the country exported $20 million worth of goods and services.
Similarly, exports to the US market declined from $79.5 million to $44.6 million during the review period.
In a recent Malawi Economic Monitor titled ‘A narrow path to prosperity’, the World Bank acknowledged that Malawi’s trade performance has been declining in recent decades.
Our dependence on primary commodities makes us vulnerable to economic and political shocks on global markets.
Growing our exports is critical towards attainment of aspirations of the Malawi 2063, the country’s long-term development strategy that envisages diversification of export products within the agricultural sector and towards other sectors, including mining and tourism as having potential to make a difference.
In our case, I would also say that over the years, policy inconsistencies have contributed to the slow growth of diversification and exports. There are times when policies tend to favour traders more than manufacturers and we have seen most traders bringing in “cheap” products that give unfair competition and frustrate manufacturers’ efforts towards import substitution.
Import restrictions should be carefully reviewed and implemented.
Next is investment to increase power generation and road network capacity alongside review of some laws offer a glimmer of hope towards incentivising diversification and exports.
Not long ago, the index of industrial production, derived from the production volumes data for industries in the manufacturing, electricity and water supply, showed that on average, industrial production levels in Malawi in 2021 went down by about 11 percentage points below the 2020 levels.
On the other hand, output in the manufacturing industry for 2021 was 18.4 percent lower than in 2020.
To the local manufacturers facing obstacles such as high cost of borrowing, taxation and other disincentives that are stifling their growth and production capacity, the recent import bans could be of advantage.
However, to reap from the same, there is need to invest in quality control to satisfy the market. Surely, it sulks, for example, to buy a packet of locally made biscuits only to find the contents are all crumbs.
With private sector players such as Old Mutual Investment Group, through its alternative investments platform, and NBM Development Bank financing production of macadamia and its value chain, there seem to be light at the end of the tunnel towards boosting exports. But this is just one area, more needs to be done.
To further boost consumption of local products, the team behind the Buy Malawi Strategy should improve on visibility of the brands, especially in major supermarkets nationwide.
There should be specific ‘Made in Malawi’ sections with visible and attractive branding and display to entice the customers.
It should not take UNDP, Madame Frost or any other diplomat or agency to tell us to support local products. This should be something we should embrace on our own, but of course, not at the expense of quality.
There should be a more practical approach than the ‘road shows’ we tend to see year-in and year-out.
