Malawi losing 1.7% of its GDP to disaster – Muhara

Malawi is losing 1.7% of its Growth Development Product (GDP) to disaster, says Chief Secretary to Office of President and Cabinet Lloyd Muhara.

Speaking in Lilongwe when he presided over the 2018 National Disaster Risk Management Platform Symposium which run from 17 to 18 October, Muhara said there is need for the country to reverse the situation by among other things applying various interventions.

He said the 2015/16 El Nino weather shock led to production loss of 282 million US dollars in the agriculture sector culminating to USD500 million loss economically.

What it means was that USD144 million was required to recover from these disasters but only USD80 million was released for the drought recovery plan which was lesser by a big margin.

Department of Disaster Management Affairs (DoDMA) Secretary Ernest Kantchentche says government is already doing a lot in order to mitigate impact of climate change.

He gave example of construction of dykes in Lower Shire in order to deal with floods.

The stakeholders have since released a four-point communique urging government to act on the effects of the climate change.

“There is need to strengthen efforts currently being undertaken by DoDMA on continued dialogue with other stakeholders,” he said.

Stakeholders have also recommended improvement in communication and coordination systems.

The symposium has recommended that disaster risk financing should be mainstreamed in all ministries, departments and agencies.