Cost of living soars

Malawian house holds continue to struggle to access basic food and non-food items as prices for most basic needs continue soaring, the Centre for Social Concern (CfSC) data shows.

According to the CfSC’s Basic Needs Basket, the cost of living, which is the cost of maintaining a certain standard of living, rose by about K21 000 in August this year.

The findings show that a family of six now needs K307 000 to survive in a month, a rise from K286 000 per month recorded in July.

CfSC programme officer for economic governance Bernard Mphepo said, in an interview on Thursday, that most Malawians are hardly surviving as incomes are not reflecting the living costs, largely due to rising commodity prices, especially food prices.

“The figures reveal that many Malawians’ average incomes fall below minimum requirements of cost of food items and minimum cost of living.

“The fact that the cost of living is significantly influenced by the general increase in both food and non-food items reveals how the government should be serious in putting up policies to protect the welfare of Malawians,” he said.

In Malawi, maize, which is the staple crop, traditionally impacts the economy given its skewed influence in determining inflation rates.

The country’s headline inflation has been on the rise and is currently at 25.2 percent as of August on account of rising food and non–food prices, especially food prices.

In most markets in the country, a kilogramme (kg) of maize, which used to cost K140 in a similar period last year, has shot up to around K369, which is significantly above the previous year and the five-year averages for the post-harvest period.

Similarly, costs of basic items and services used on a daily basis such as soap, charcoal and transport fares, have also gone up since July.

Fuel prices have also remained high this year, pushing up the cost of transport, goods and services.

For average income earners, this development is tough to afford basic needs.

Consumers Association of Malawi executive director John Kapito said in an interview consumers are going through one of the highest costs of living.

Said Kapito: “The current situation is hard economically and socially. We do not know where this leads to, but one can predict tough times ahead.

“Many Malawians challenges to access the very basic needs that a year ago were affordable. The rising inflation has also affected the lack of access to disposable incomes.” are currently experiencing

Meanwhile, Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FewsNet) has indicated that most households face constrained access to food purchases in markets due to typically high prices exacerbated by limited income access.

“Although most very poor and poor families, especially in southern Malawi, are mainly relying on market purchases for food, many of them have reduced capacity to afford adequate food due to increases of maize prices,” reads the report in part