Banks respond positively to APM’s directive

BLANTYRE-(MaraviPost)—Barely few days after President Peter Mutharika announced measures meant to cushion the financial impact of covid-19, Institute of Bankers in Malawi (IOB) has welcomed the move, saying it is a win-win situation.

IOB chief executive officer Lyness Nkungula said banks will recover the cost once the moratorium is over, resulting in higher equated monthly installment or increasing the tenure if the person cannot afford higher equated monthly installment.

“We encourage those customers that are in distress now or will be after the moratorium to approach the banks for restructuring of their facilities. The moratorium is a win- win situation as we want the banks to survive as well through this troublesome period,” she said as quoted in the Nation of April 8 edition.

But on reducing fees and charges on electronic money transactions, Nkungula said there are a number of factors to be considered.

Meanwhile, Consumers Association of Malawi executive director John Kapito said it is pleasing that banks are willing and have responded positively to the measures.

In his address on additional Covid-19 measures on Saturday,  Mutharka instructed commercial banks and micro-finance institutions to observe a three-month moratorium on interest and principal repayments for all loans contracted by micro, small and medium enterprises.

Mutharika also instructed the Malawi Revenue Authority to open up a voluntary tax compliance window for a period of six months to allow tax payers with arrears to settle their tax obligations in installments without penalty.

He also increased the MEDF loans allocation from K13 billion to K15 billion in order to help Micro, Small and Medium Scale businesses that have been seriously affected by the pandemic.

But Vice President has today advised the president to allocate the top up money to health sector to help fight the covid-19.

Maneno Chimulala

I am a journalist, educator, and activist with passion for telling stories about social justice, sports and political issues. I graduated from Mzuzu University. I started my career at the Maravi Post online publication in 2012 as an intern while in college. Upon graduating from Mzuzu University I was offered a job as Sports Reporter because of my background as a goalkeeper and rose to the position of sub editor. I also had a short stint with Nyasatimes, Malawi Punch and Malawi Digest. Over the past seven years, I have worked intimately with rural organizations and communities in Malawi on human rights, girl child education and grassroots development projects. With an academic background in education, I also volunteer as male champion for girls’ education under Girls Empowerment Networks (GENET) in Malawi’s South West Education Division (SWED).