Malawi struggles under Sadc trade, excels in Comesa
Malawi’s trade performance under the Southern Africa Development Community (Sadc) is relatively deplorable, but the country managed to excel under the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa).
Malawi, a member of the two regional trade blocs, has been experiencing a skewed trade balance in favour of Sadc with local exports far below imports from Sadc, a 15-member regional grouping which includes South Africa, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Zambia, Botswana and Mozambique.
Available figures provided by the National Statistical Office (NSO) show that Malawi had a negative trade balance of about K30.7 billion in December last year, K34.8 billion gap in November 2013 and a negative trade difference of about K21.6 billion in December 2012.
However, according to figures provided by the same authority, Malawi had no trade balance with Comesa in December 2013, while local exports to the bloc outperformed imports by about K5.6 billion. A year earlier, in December 2012, Malawi’s exports almost matched imports from Comesa. Comesa, a 19-member trade bloc includes Kenya, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, Egypt and Sudan but does not include South Africa, major source of imports in the region.
In a telephone interview on Monday, National Working Group on Trade Policy (NWGTP) chairperson Geoff Mkandawire said the trend under Sadc is alarming because it means Malawians are supporting foreign jobs.
He explained that South Africa, which is a member of Sadc and not Comesa, is responsible for Malawi’s skewed trade balance with the region.
“As a country, we need to find markets in the region and build competitiveness,” said Mkandawire.
He, however, warned that Malawians will keep on supporting foreign jobs if imports exceed exports.
Earlier, during the South Africa Malawi business forum that took place in Blantyre, authorities said the two countries would sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) later this year which is aimed at facilitating trade between the two partners.
The MoU would focus on industry, trade and technical cooperation to increase trade between South Africa and Malawi.
