A key take out from the recent National Economic Recovery Plan (Nerp) conference is the urgent need to move from blueprint to action.
The conference provided the right start. We left with a plan. Now comes the hard part; delivery.
To deliver targets set out by the Nerp, we must revive the Public-Private Dialogue Forum (PPDF) to create an institutional platform and memory through which the government and private sector galvanise their actions on economic recovery.
The context
The Nerp identifies what needs done; restoring macroeconomic stability, treating debt, stimulating production, increasing exports, creating jobs and improving livelihoods. These objectives cannot be achieved by the government alone because central to its mandate is providing a conducive environment for the private sector to thrive.
Public and private sector should have distinct, but mutually fetching obligations. The government does not create wealth; it creates conditions for wealth creation. The private sector creates wealth, jobs, exports and investment.
The private sector is the “engine” of economic growth and the PPDF gives it its voice and the springboard on which recovery will be sustained. The private sector is primarily in business while the government provides an enabling framework for business to thrive in.
By providing order through rules, regulations and policy, government grants private business the licence to operate. In turn the private sector operates within these guiding principles to do business, create jobs, turn in the profit and pay the taxes that contribute to growth.
Why Nerp needs PPDF?
The PPDF provides a structured mechanism for dialogue. It helps to identify policy and regulatory barriers, facilitates evidence-based recommendations to government and enables coordinated action between key stakeholders. It also promotes accountability and monitoring of agreed reforms.
Sadly, for the PPDF, its work had in recent years been overshadowed by bureaucracy and the sheer lack of political will. This has resulted in loss of traction and inertia to deliver on identified action points. Malawi is coming from a background where PPDF resolutions often wound up as communiques, without ownership, deadlines or accountability.
The rude awakening has been the lesson that a beautiful and well-thought-out plan on paper rarely creates any job. Only execution does. PPDF was created for this exact moment: to translate government policy into private sector investment and results. Credit must go to the Malawi Confederation of Chambers of Commerce for helping PPDF take its first baby steps as the “roundtable” for stakeholders. But thee is now need to forge ahead from here.
This should be achieved by making sure that there is an effective PPDF. The PPDF should be positioned as the principal public private mechanism for implementing the Nerp and Malawi 2063 (MW2063).
PPDF as dual propeller
Malawi must prioritise two things. The first immediate task is to work towards economic recovery. How does Malawi move out of the debt-trap? How does Malawi narrow or eliminate the imports and exports gap? Where can the government cut spending to redirect resources towards meaningful productivity and export markets? How does Malawi harness productivity to sustain tax revenues without killing the goose that lays the golden egg, corporations and small and medium enterprises (SMEs)?
The second are the long-term goals. Like a twin-prop engine for an aeroplane, the PPDF secretariat will support implementation and follow-through of both short and long-range goals. The short-range actions have been identified under Nerp and in the medium to long-term, we have the MW2063 blueprint. Obviously, the immediate priority is recovery. As the economy convalesces, focus gradually shifts to the given long-term goals outlined in the MW2063, the country’s long-term development plan that seeks to turn Malawi into a lower middle-income economy by 2030 and an upper middle-income economy by 2063.
Linking PPDF to MW2063
The MW2063 sets out to transform Malawi into an inclusively wealthy and self-reliant industrialised upper-middle-income country.
The plan’s three pillars of agriculture commercialisation, industrialisation and urbanisation require substantial private sector investment and leadership. Without a vibrant and engaged private sector, MW2063 risks becoming a government aspiration rather than a national transformation agenda.
The PPDF supports MW2063 by providing a platform for collaboration on transformational projects, promoting private investment in productive sectors, supporting competitiveness and innovation, facilitating reforms that improve the business environment, and mobilising expertise and resources beyond government.
Financing the national recovery
Dialogue without capital is a seminar. As Standard Bank plc, we are ready and eager to finance the priorities. We will ring-fence substantial funding, mostly private capital funding in 2026-2027 for lending to sectors prioritised in the Nerp such as agro-processing, renewable energy, climate-smart agriculture, export manufacturing and mining.
Moving forward
What is clear is that PPDF is what will give both Nerp and MW2063 the wings to fly Malawi towards the desired destination of self-reliance and prosperity. The two can succeed only if they are genuinely public-private partnerships.
The government provides leadership, policy direction, and an enabling environment, while the private sector drives investment, production, innovation, exports, and job creation.
The PPDF is therefore not simply a consultation platform, it is a strategic vehicle for ensuring that Malawi’s recovery and long-term transformation are private-sector-led, nationally owned, and sustainably implemented.
*Phillip Madinga is the chief executive of Standard Bank plc and also Bankers Association of Malawi president
