President Lazarus Chakwera has acknowledged that rising prices of goods and services have negatively impacted Malawians in his first five years, but says his administration has developed a plan to resuscitate the country’s economy.
The President cited increased food production, reduced transportation costs and boosting of local manufacturing base as some of the measures set to improve the situation.
Chakwera was speaking at Njamba Freedom Park in Blantyre yesterday where he addressed a Malawi Congress Party (MCP) campaign rally for the September 16 General Election, his first in the commercial city since the launch of the 60-day official campaign on July 14.
He said no country was spared from rising prices, but said his government has laid a foundation to cushion the impact.
Chakwera cited construction of roads, rehabilitation of railway lines to cut transportation costs and support for local production of goods as some of the measures.
“But there are also some traders hoarding commodities such as fertiliser, sugar and cement and we are making efforts to curb such behaviour,” he said.
In his address, the Pesident said prices of cheap fertiliser will be announced today.
“When we reduce the price of fertilizer, food prices are also going to go down,” said Chakwera.
The pledge to reduce fertiliser prices comes on the back of his administration’s promise in the run up to the June 2020 court-sanctioned fresh presidential election to trim fertiliser prices to K4 950 per bag. However, smallholder farmers were only able to redeem the fertiliser at the price under the Affordable Inputs Programme during his first year in office.
At that time, fertiliser prices were hovering around K20 000 but have since soared to around K150 000.
Speaking in an interview after the rally, MCP secretary general Richard Chimwendo Banda said the government’s intervention on fertiliser is aimed at protecting farmers.
The President’s remarks come against the background of the Malawi Government Annual Economic Report 2025 which shows that industrial output fell by 14.4 percent in 2024 due foreign exchange scarcity which affected availability of raw materials.
During the rally, Chimwendo also dismissed a survey conducted by the Institute of Public Opinion and Research (Ipor) between August 14 and 27, 2025 showing Democratic Progressive Party leader Peter Mutharika as leading with 41 percent of the vote against Chakwera’s 31 percent.
He alleged that the respondents in the survey were adults who did not register for the September 16 General Election.
His stance contrasts with a press statement issued on Friday by MCP publicity secretary Jessie Kabwila saying the party views the survey as confirmation that its campaign strategy is resonating with voters.
Speaking earlier, Senior Chief Kapeni of Blantyre expressed gratitude to the President for provision of loans under the National Economic Empowerment Fund but he appealed for rehabilitation of dilapidated roads in the city.
Other speakers at the rally included MCP second deputy president Abida Mia and campaign director Moses Kunkuyu.
Before the rally, hundreds of MCP supporters paraded from BAT Ground to Njamba Freedom Park through the Masauko Chipembere Highway, taking over one side of the dual carriageway for about half an hour and leaving vehicles from Blantyre to Limbe stuck in traffic.
