More Malawians depressed—World Bank

A World Bank report has found that more Malawians are depressed due to worsening poverty and financial woes on the back of an economy failing to create enough opportunities and increase income levels.

In its recently released biennual Malawi Economic Monitor (MEM) report, the World Bank states that a survey it conducted in June 2023 found that one in every three Malawians exhibited symptoms of depression.

This, according to the report, is an increase from a rate of one to five found in an earlier survey in 2021 on the Personal Health Questionnaire Depression Scale.  

Reads the report in part: “Half of respondents in June 2023 were assessed to be severely food insecure on the FAO [Food Agricultural Organisation] Food Insecurity Experience Scale.

“Among those facing food insecurity, half of the respondents exhibited symptoms of depression, whereas among those who were more food secure only one in five showed signs of depression.”

The increased rate of depression comes alongside rising cases of suicide in 2023, as earlier reported by the Malawi Police Service capturing 366 cases, up from 269 in 2022. A majority of these cases were on grounds of economic hardships, said the police.

According to the MEM, besides job losses and financial challenges, other shocks associated with the depression symptoms included the experience of illness, injuries or death of an income earning member of a household, theft or looting of cash and other property.

Malawi’s path to economic turnaround narrowed in 2020 when the global Covid-19 pandemic started to spread, hitting livelihoods, especially those of the most vulnerable as growth in gross domestic product slackened to average just below two percent through to 2023.

This year, the country’s economy is projected to grow by 3.6 percent in 2024, up from 1.6 in 2023, according to Treasury.

But the latest GDP estimate—which critics say is overly optimistic owing to expected sharp declines in agricultural production, weak industrial output and a generally stifling macroeconomic environment—is still lower than the six percent growth rate that development experts say is needed to have a meaningful impact on poverty levels.

More than two thirds of the country’s population projected at 21 million this year lives below the World Bank’s international poverty line of $2.15 (K3 600) per day.

With Malawi’s annual population growth rate hovering around 2.6 percent; development practitioners say the growth rate is too low to trickle down to suffering Malawians and improve their livelihoods.

Responding to the World Bank report, Malawi Economic Justice Network (Mejn) executive director Bertha Phiri described the findings on depression levels as worrisome.

She called on both the public and private sectorsto invest more in industrialisation to create more opportunities.

“Government and private sector efforts towards the industrialisation agenda need to be uplifted further. We have not yet industrialised our economy enough to recruit the jobless youth that are languishing in towns and cities, even rural areas. This is breeding hopelessness among most Malawians,” she said.

However, Phiri said there is consolation that government is fully aware of this challenge, citing some interventions such as the recently rolled out urban cash transfer as somewhat mitigating.

In a separate interview, economist Wesley Mkandawire also said the country’s inability to industrialise means fewer opportunities for citizens.

The former Reserve Bank of Malawi and Treasury economist, has since suggested a proper framework with a budget line for the actualisation of the first Malawi 2063 Implementation Plan (MIP 1), which promotes industrial projects.

“With the absence of a financing mechanism for the actualisation of the MIP 1 investment projects, things cannot work because of financing challenges,” he said.

He lamented the exclusion of the youth in the implementation of the MIP 1 after creating expectations by involving them fully in the aspirations, saying this is now creating frustrations among the youth who are feeling hopeless.

Mkandawire further urged government to take commercial parastatals to task to begin making strides in industrialisation by becoming financially stable and contribute to economic growth, rather than continuing to be a burden on the Treasury and failing to create wealth.

Asked on the low hanging fruits that can bring quick economic results to improve livelihoods, Mkandawire mentioned the mega farms but with value addition.

“For example, a big farm with 5 000 cattle can create more jobs if there can be cheese production also. This is unlike exportation of raw produce, which can only provide seasonal opportunities,” he said.

Malawi’s economy has experienced more shocks since 2019 that have dampened growth, creating and worsening vulnerabilities among Malawians as efforts have not been enough to recover pre-Covid performance.