LILONGWE-(MaraviPost)-Leader of United Democratic Front in the August house (UDF) Nedson Poya trashed President Lazarus Chakwera’s State of National Address (SONA) as empty arguing that its not different from Malawi Congress Party (MCP) manifesto.
Phoya told the August on Wednesday, February 13, 2024 when responding to SONA that Chakwera’s Tonse Alliance government keeps painting a rosy picture on the state of our economy, “But the fact still remains that the Malawi economy has been severely impacted by the Tonse Alliance Government’s wrong fiscal policy since 2020”.
Poya observes that Inflation keeps rising, the Malawi kwacha has depreciated, interest rates have risen, official reserves have decreased, and public debts have soared from MK4 trillion to over MK9 trillion within a space of four years.
He noted further that there is an average of 2% economic growth compared to 4 percent for the past 5 decades.
The UDF leader said that Chakwera keeps blaming external forces such the war in Eastern Europe and natural disasters he is failing short to recognize the real source of our problems.
“The economy is facing four major policy mishaps in fiscal, monetary, foreign exchange, and real sector prescriptions. The expansionary fiscal policy introduced punitive taxes, leading to budget deficits and borrowing,” said Poya.
He added that a disproportionate amount of public debt not only has high servicing costs but also keeps the private sector from growing, which hinders their ability to grow and create jobs.
He however said the majority of government spending goes toward importing goods, which causes currency depreciation and foreign exchange shortages.
Poya adds, “The current regime might say the administration’s fiscal discipline and economic reforms have regained donor confidence and secured investments from the International Monetary Fund, World Bank, and European Union for direct budgetary support in the upcoming fiscal year but it is too early to predict recovery in the shortest time possible because there are still areas that need to be addressed”.
