Malawi’s Minister of Finance Ken Lipenga says the future of the country lies in the hands of every Malawian and, therefore, cannot be determined through magic or prophecy.
Lipenga said this in response to results of a survey Nation on Sunday conducted last week to find out people’s views on whether the situation in the country would improve anytime soon.
Most interviewees in the 13 districts where the survey was done said things are not likely to improve soon.
At least 440 out of 790 respondents answered ‘no’ to the question.
They observed that the recent kwacha appreciation against the US dollar was not enough to improve the living conditions of Malawians.
But Lipenga brushed aside such criticism, saying no one in government is so naïve as to refer to the appreciation of the kwacha as the sole indicator that things are getting better.
“We should not read too much into the appreciation of the kwacha, but rather the stabilisation. But again, we can see that prices have become realistic and the kwacha is starting to find its real value on the market,” he said.
However, Lipenga acknowledged that some indicators such as food and foreign exchange availability are seasonal.
“We have acknowledged seasonality, but it is possible to make a lean season less lean. We ran out of forex and food at a certain time of the year and all we have to do is find a way of finding extra food,” he said.
Lipenga said this year’s budget is trying to make forex perennially available by encouraging local exporters.
He said all Malawi needs is good planning to avoid over-expenditure and to stay the course as advised by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Economics professor Chinyamata Chipeta said the appreciation of the kwacha might mean a drop in inflation, but this would not be for too long.
“Improved availability of foreign exchange has led to an appreciation of the kwacha. Since the exchange rate is a major determinant of inflation, the latter is expected to continue decelerating, assuming that it does not start depreciating after the tobacco buying season.
“Developments that will have a positive impact on economic growth are the budgeted increase in government expenditure, the forecast increase in exports and the expected rise in consumer expenditure following an increase in national income,” he said.
