Commercial banks are robbing Malawians
Thomas Jefferson, 3rd President of the United States (USA) giving an advance warning some 200 years ago said: “I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around (these banks) will deprive the people of all property until their children wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered.
It is most amazing how accurate Thomas Jefferson was 200 years ago, because this is exactly what is happening in Malawi today. Many of us are facing serious economic hardships; companies are closing businesses, while banks are boastfully posting billions of kwachas in huge profits”.
These are economic obscenities among all of us who have now just been reduced to economic slaves for the bank masters. Malawians and many Organizations are paying 40% or more in interest rates to the banks,while the same banks pay them 10% or less on their savings or fixed deposits. Such a practice and wide gap between the two interest rates are blatantly illegal in many civilized communities.
Investors are kept away and our businessmen continue to fail because of such sky high bank interest rates. In fact many Malawi companies are now choosing to invest in neighboring countries. It’s now time our relevant authorities took action against such banks by simply regulating banking practices.
The banks are blinded by their financial greed to such absurd injustices. I call what is happening in Malawi today “ECONOMIC TERRORISM”. We must all be surprised by the fact that the kwacha is devaluing on a daily basis while we are in the tobacco season. This does not make sense; in fact it is an economic absurdity in Malawi.
It must therefore be a clear indication that someone must be manipulating the currency and making billions of Kwacha in profits on the benefits undeniably reaps from these currency fluctuations. We have seen recently that banks have suddenly dropped their interest rates drastically! While we commend them for this move we must wonder what is different today, which was not there before.
Well, banks will blame RBM for the high requirement of the Liquidity Reserve and high inflation but we all know that they could have easily dropped these rates much earlier. In fact they need not have had the bank rates that high at all.
The only reason for the banks to have had such high interest rates is no other but to make very huge and obscene profits in the middle of so much economic suffering by us all. One wants to know if it is not just callous determination to rip off the innocent and ignorant public. You don’t have to be an economist to see that something is very wrong here. You will note that Thomas Jefferson had in mind been effective control of these banking institutions.
Government, through its agents including the Reserve Bank and through the peoples’ representatives in Parliament, supported by effective legal processes in the Judiciary must always be vigilant and ensure that the beast is tamed. Has this happened?
Although Reserve Bank policies also have an impact on banks Beauvoir as recently we have seen in reduction of Liquidity Reserves Requirement from 15% to 7.5% which has led to reduction in interest rates or RBM directives on currency trading have also slowed down Kwacha depreciation.
I am, though, skeptical that these desperate moves will really make a difference because they are ‘knee-jerk’ reactions. We need to find more permanent solution to stop this madness.
God bless!
- Honorable David Bisnowaty, MP Lilongwe City Centre Constituency, -Malawi Parliament.
The observation from our MP are real and we wonder why those in Government fail to borrow these advises. Imagine if you borrow from banks MK700,000 you will make a repayment of MK1,3 million within a period of 3years. This will not be the same when you make a fixed deposit of the same amount. The interest will not even reach to MK50,000.
judging by the way people are loosing houses the MP has got very points. its actually shameful that some banks are even advertising three pages that they are selling people’s houses. those who buy are the same people, Asians of Asian origin. not of Malawi origin. This calls for total scrunchy and intervention by people in authority before someone is hanged.
We have the so called economists but they just stay iddle,this is realy economic sucidal.God save us.
Given a chance I would rather try the likes of Bisnowaty to be Malawi State president. But because we vote on tribal, racial lines we forget that doing so is tantamount to suicide. Keep it up Bisnowaty.
I like what number 15(drogba) has commented.what he said ndizowona zokhazokha as well as article ya bisnowaty.But my question ndiyoti kodi boma APM likupangapo chani kuti ululu wa amalawi pa nkhani za chuma wavutawu uchepe? Angoyang’ana basi kuti tizingoberedwabe?
Koma kuba ndalama aboma kutchinjiriza anthu sakutha. Mxiiiii
This is very painful and I do feel bad because Malawi in Africa seems as if its country where foreigners have met and soon after their businesses they go back to where they belong.This is the right time we real Malawians deserve to wake up as ateam avoid blaming and divisions.I dont agree that its becoz we are ignorant of what is going on concerning our economic this is very wrong.Just look at this MP’s explanation it is proving very well that the right candidates are within us but they are dead.You know we need to realise that to develope… Read more »
Do we have political leadership with the will to protect the interests of the people or rather a group of thugs promoting the interests of fellow thugs? Wake up Malawi and take charge of your country. Mr president and all our MPs, this is your job!!!! Let not your hearts rest until there is economic justice in this land!!!!
National bank of Malawi (NBM( deducts from my basic saving account K350 a month as service charge. So if NBM has 1 million saving accounts, it simply translates to 350 million Kwacha as revenue from service charge from simple savings accounts. So what about corporate accounts, interests on loans etc? Think about those banks when anytime you use ATM card you are deducted service charge? “Thieving” at its best!
What Honorable Bisnowarty has said is just very true, very but I wonder, doesn’t government know about this?? Why isn’t the government doing anything about this?? Mr Bisnowarty, please table this in parliament next session. In fact I attended the recently Malawi Investment Forum 2015 at BICC in Lilongwe and banking rates was one of the factors debated for a ling time. It was obvious that most investors were reluctant to invest in Malawi with very high borrowing bank rates and too much taxes. I always cry when such banks as NBM boast of hundreds of billions of kwachas in… Read more »