Supply side economics has answers
There is a lot of waiting and gnashing of teeth in Malawi today.
 There is a good deal of discomfort in the country. There is famine in a country which not few years ago was boasting of brimful silos and was inviting other African countries to come and learn how it has managed to become a star performer in defeating hunger.
All sorts of reasons are being given for the fuel and food shortages.
Some people are listing things which should be done or adopted to take us out of this economic quagmire.
Others blame President Joyce Banda for apparently not listening to what they are saying.
By all means, President Banda listens to what they are saying, but also remember the observation of the greatest economist of the 20th century.
Who else could that economist be, but John Maynard Keynes who observed that economics is a subject at which few people excel.
When a legal problem has arisen, we ask a lawyer to guide us. When one is sick, a medical doctor is consulted. Similarly, when there is an economic problem, we need to ask an economist for solutions.
My advice to the President is to look for technocrats and use their expertise.
This is what presidents of Singapore, Taiwan, South Korea and prime minister of Malaysia did.
Recently, the Italian people entrusted their economy to a technocrat and his prescription have started bearing fruits.
People who are paid by interest groups are not able to view the current situation dispassionately.
Any suggestion they make will be that which at least does not discomfort the interest group that pays them.
All this has already been said. The gist of this article is supply side of economics. I have come across passages in economics books where inflation has been briefly defined as too much money chasing too few goods.
Goods are supplied by producers who are on the supply side of economics.
To find a solution to inadequate or shortage of goods tackle first the production side, the consumption will be much easier to solve.
If last season we had realised bumper harvests, the devaluation of the kwacha would not have affected the price of maize to a large extent. No trader would charge a high price for a product that is in plentiful supply.
Shortages of oil arise because of shortage of foreign reserves (dollars and euros) to pay for the imports.
Shortages of reserves come about because of problems on the supply side of economics. We may not be producing commodities which overseas people are willing to pay us in dollars.
On the supply side, there is a glimmer of hope that exists in selling pulse sto India as we read in the press recently.
But do we have the capacity to produce more pigeon peas for the Indian market? The demand side of the equation is clear but what about the supply side?
Five years ago, Argentina was saved from its debt crisis by the soya beans. So, let us not despise the pigeon peas.
If produced in abundance, soya beans can help ease shortages of drugs in our hospitals bearing in mind that India is a major source of this most essential import.
We have heard that sugar canes can become a source of oil. How is the supply side poised to exploit this opportunity?
Our major problems will be solved if we solve the supply side. Certain products can be made only by those with the type of know-how and capital which we do not have. What are we doing to entice foreign direct investment into Malawi?
There are some pundits who are angry, saying the President is making frequent trips abroad. One wonders whether they have worked as sales people. Sales people know that if they just sit in their offices, waiting for customers to come and place orders, they cannot make much sales.
Sales people who want to make more sales go out to look for customers.
So long as the journeys the President makes are intended to publicise the potential of Malawi, the costs she incurs are a form of an investment provided they commensurate with the task.
