Malawi-EU trade favourable at $106m surplus
Malawi’s trade with the European Union (EU) was in favour of Lilongwe at a surplus of $106 million (K44.5 billion) in 2012, data provided by the Trade Law Centre (Tralac) has indicated.
The data indicates that Malawi’s exports have been more than imports since 1999 and authorities have expressed optimism about the continuation of the trend.
Last year, according to the data, Malawi exported $326 million (K137 billion) to the EU while it imported $221 million (K93 billion).
Ministry of Industry and Trade spokesperson, Wiskes Nkombezi in a telephone interview on Tuesday expressed optimism about the trade trend, arguing it will continue.
“Our trade performance with the EU has been very good due to historical reasons. Apart from that the EU is also a lucrative market that is why our sugar finds a good market. We are going to continue to target the EU although there are some challenges including standards. However, our standards body, the Malawi Bureau of Standards (MBS) is receiving support and that should improve our exports quality and increase them,” said Nkombezi.
He added that Malawi being a least developed country (LDC) will continue to enjoy access to the EU market under the Everything But Arms (EBA).
According to the data, in 2012, Malawi’s top 20 exports included tobacco, sugar cane, tea, nuts and coffee while imports included medicines, pharmaceuticals, bulldozers and graders, and lorries.
But last year, Malawi re-started negotiating the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) with the EU, a scheme which will create a reciprocal trade agreement between the EU and African Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries. Some experts, however, contend that a reciprocal trade agreement with the EU will turn the trade tables against ACP countries.
Generally, Malawi suffers total trade deficits with exports below imports.
Tralac data indicates that Malawi’s imports from China stood at $249 million (K105 billion) compared to $48 million (K20 billion) exports in 2012.
Available data also indicates that in 2012, Malawi suffered a trade deficit with South Africa having exported $68 million (K27 billion) while imported about $440 million (K176 billion) in the same period.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Malawi’s country report indicated that total trade deficit in 2012 stood at $658.2 (K223.8 billion), with $1 969.3million (K669.6 billion) imports and $1 479.2 million (K502.9 billion) exports.
Malawi launched the National Export Strategy (NES) last year which aims at providing a clearly prioritised road map for building Malawi’s productive base to generate sufficient exports to match the upward pressure on Malawi’s imports while at the same time maximising the direct contribution of exports to economic and social development.
