Company closures worry Malawi economists

Officials from Economists Association of Malawi (Ecama), an umbrella body for economists say the growing closure of business operations and retrenchment is detrimental to the country’s social economic growth.

They have said this because of the growing trend of closure of some companies and retrenchment of employees.

Lauryn Nyasulu , president of the Economic Association of Malawi has asked government to create a viable environment for economic growth even in moments of pandemic like these.

According to Nyasulu, businesses would continue to underperform unless the country has mechanisms that would keep them afloat.

For instance, Kanengo Tobacco Processors Limited closed leaving over 150 jobless while Manica (Malawi) Limited and Bakhresa Malawi Limited have announced plans to scale down and lay off some employees while
Manica said it will be undertaking an organisational restructuring exercise to retrench some employees as operational and staff costs are high due to large number of employees compared to the revenues generated.

In addition, the company said it will undertake the exercise to bring its revenues in line with the group’s requirement and evaluate each existing job and retain only those which are the main key results areas.