BLANTYRE-(MaraviPost)-Former Reserve Bank of Malawi (RBM) Governor Dr. Dalitso Kabambe says President Lazarus Chakwera’s Tonse Alliance administration is running an “impotent monetary policy”.
Dr Kabambe therefore hinted that correcting all of Malawi’s economic cancers is not a small boys’ job! It’s a big man’s job
He however dared that “unfortunately, Tonse Alliance is in the category of ‘small boys’
Dr. Kabambe was speaking at an opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) press conference on Monday, August 28, 2023, in Blantyre.
Kabambe observes that the impotence of the monetary policy is manifested in the misalignment between the dollar and the kwacha and the rising inflation rate.
The former RBM governor added that solving the economic problems of this country is “a boy’s job” and cannot take long if the government has people who know what they are doing.
“The Malawi economy is now completely run down. Since 2020 when the Tonse Alliance Government came into power, inflation has soared from a single digit of 7 percent to 29 percent; the Malawi kwacha has depreciated from MK732 per US dollar to MK1,090 on the official market and MK1,900 at the parallel market.
“Interest rates have jumped from 13 percent to 24 percent; official reserves have gone down from 6 months of import cover to 1 month; and public debts have soared from MK4.1 trillion to MK9.2 trillion”, observes Dr. Kabambe.
He adds, “Put simply, the macroeconomic environment has become hostile and unbearable to everyone and as a result, economic growth has remained subdued at an average of 2 percent compared to 4 percent for the past 5 decades. The Malawi economy can now best be described as in ICU.
“While the Government heaps all the blame on external forces such as the Ukraine war, COVID-19, and natural disasters, the truth is that the economy is also frantically bleeding”.
Dr. Kabambe is one of the potential DPP’s Presidential aspirants.
The party therefore says the poor economic policies have led to high levels of unemployment, loss of jobs, and fuel scarcity, among others.
Chakwera Tonse Government is yet to comment on the matter.