The World Bank has commended the Malawi Government for spelling out key policy reforms aimed at restoring the country’s macro-economic stability.
The bank’s country manager Firaz Raad said this on Friday at the Parliament Building in Lilongwe soon after Minister of Finance, Economic Planning and Decentralisation Joseph Mwanamvekha presented the 2025/26 Mid-Term Budget Statement.
He urged the Treasury to identify ways to strengthen what has been said in the budget to move Malawi towards a sustainable medium-term fiscal pathway and put the economy on track.
the reforms | Andrew Viano
Said Raad: “We look forward to assessing the budget with much greater detail in the days ahead. But we are encouraged by the reforms that were outlined by the minister, especially around debt management, civil service reforms. We also were encouraged by the ideas that the Honourable Minister mentioned around how to grow the economy and he mentioned certain growth sectors.
“And so we look forward to assessing the statement very carefully and then making further statements later on.”
The World Bank’s sentiments come barely two weeks after President Peter Mutharika pleaded with the Bretton Woods institution to consider giving Malawi additional support, saying the government needs $220 million to fix the ailing economy.
The call came when World Bank vice-president for Eastern and Southern Africa Ndiame Diop met the Malawi leader in Lilongwe.
Meanwhile, University of Malawi economist Gowokani Chirwa has said the government has taken a good path in ensuring fiscal management.
In an interview, he said on paper, the [Mid-Term Budget Statement] is commendable but its impact rests on how the government implements the fiscal discipline measures spelled out.
“We have seen good initiatives being undertaken in this budget. The problem is that they look good on paper but sometimes it is the same controllers who start working against the measures they set,” said Chirwa.
Mwanamvekha recently met the International Monetary Fund to explore the possibility of it resuming the Extended Credit Facility with Malawi.
Recently, the World Bank provided the government with a $45 million (K78.7 billion) emergency food security funding grant to purchase maize from Zambia for the Lean Season Hunger Response programme.
