Horror of Malawi rising debt worries Nasfam: Govt mortgaging future of the country
Think of the burden on our children and grandchildren. This is a message resonating from the National Association of Smallholder Farmers in Malawi (Nasfam) concerns over the rising debt levels by government reportedly at K2.4 trillion.
Nasfam chief executive officer Betty Chinyamunyamu observed that the government is borrowing a lot to service projects that have no impact and are poorly designed.
“We are borrowing a lot since 2006 and the debt has been going up significantly every year,” observed Chinyamunyamu.
The development is worrying as a significant amount of the budget and foreign currency is shipped out of Malawi to repay the foreign debts owed to multilateral and bilateral creditors when such resources should have been reinvested in the country while shoring up its balance of payment position.
Nasfam boss told parliamentary committee of Budget and Finance that 18 percent of the total national debt stock is for irrigation projects “which haven’t shown any impact yet as loans are mostly used to pay allowances to officers than the actual implementation.”
Chinyamunyamu said this negatively impacts the cause the loans are borrowed for “because they seem not to work out.”
She said the rising national debt is affecting the private sector which service exorbitant interests.
Parliamentary Committee on Budget and Finance, Rhino Chiphiko, expressed concern especially about the Chinese and Indian loans because Malawi government was not transparent on how they were contracted.
“These loans were approved as a blanket by the then Parliament. They were in phases, but up to now government has not come in the open to say how much we have used and how much remains because I am sure interest rates must be very high,” said Chiphiko.
He urged government to slow down on contracting new loans to allow Parliament to scrutinise the current debt portfolio.
According to Chiphiko, some loans did not make sense, citing the borrowing from China to build the Presidential Villas and hotel in Lilongwe and wonder “what it is that Malawians are gaining from the Presidential Villas because at the end of the day it is Malawians, not the infrastructure, who are going to repay the loans through their taxes.”
The K2.4 trillion debt is harmful to the nation against a background of K1.1 trillion national budgets which parliament approved.
Economic commentators have expressed concern that government is mortgaging the future of this country through debt.
World Bank states that Malawi’s public debt has increased sharply over recent years with servicing costs now close to levels recorded prior to the 2006 debt relief.
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loans are very useful when setting a plan of recovery to the economy, but not if you are only consuming them in ways that won’t bring any return out of it.
lets talk about just some of the issues costing this country millions and billions of money without pointing fingers,
Electricity, we have to spend useless money everyday just by going to the market everyday coz we cant keep anything anymore in the fridges, visiting markets everyday is costly, transportation & fuel expenses arent cheap.
Welders, Barbers, factories cant be productive to the best of their potentials any more,, yet the government each year seems to have a plan to sort out this electricity issue which seems to hit us hard every year despite them having budgeted a huge amount of money on it.
Poor road networks and the high fuel prices, how can renovation of the roads in the capital city be maintenance of a 2 way road rather than changing our roads to high ways, traffic jams cot this country alot everyday. Imagine those thousands of car just burning that expensive gasoline while stationary just like that coz there aint no way to pass, this is ridiculous and very sad for a country which celebrated 51 years of independence.
A taxpayer is supposed to feel better that he pays money, the neighborhood which he lives, He himself cant manage on his own to construct a good road, some fancy public market nor a community public Hall, Lucky for him he has alot of other taxpayers just around him who all pay their money to the government so they can build this things easier for them, Years pass and not a single development project is seen an these areas despite an accumulative amount of cash more than enough handed in to those we thought were responsible.
Every year they want to tell us the that the economy is getting better, so because its so, they are happy with our country and they will be happy to help us with another loan. Really, How can we put those sentences together and say them out loud without having Shame or feeling grief for our fellow poor Malawians who are paying us taxes so we can eat while they suffer in their Homes.
Shame and grief isnt in most of our hearts anymore. Poor malawi
This woman has got both the beauty and the brains!
finally, we have a voice of reason, tell them girl, so proud of you1
Malawi for sale
There is need to make an economic use of these Presidential villas to caution loan repayment otherwise they will be there for no good cause when they remain idle
What economic activity do you have in mind? Hotel services? How many people can afford hotel services in Malawi? Olo ma bwana even ministers they are usually sponsored by Government or NGOs. Otherwise most of us would rather use that money for something more important or crucial needs in our lives. Use a cheap lodge if money is from one’s pocket.
The fact is these dpp thieves have just experts of poverty creation in Malawi.
Of course them only and indeed their close nepotistic cronies are financial beneficiaries from such crooked loans and fake mediocre projects. It’s like at a family level an irresponsible parent gets a loan kumagula bonya for daily consumption pa khomo (analogy where Villas are used to host braii/ parties ama ddp families & friends). At the end of the day that bonya loan (unproductive) will still be repaid with INTEREST of course.
So these mediocre leaders, ddp lucifers, do not only make our lives miserable by depriving us of basic necessities but they are also creating poverty for the next generations. Heartless NAMAPOPAs, simply don’t care.
After all this misery, they even have the audacity to bragging around that they are up to serous business. They are constructing misewu (guaranteed to be ptholed after 1 year) and that the economy (manipulated digits) is on course. Sheer mediocrity!!!
Ignore such sentiments, the reality is that go to a healthy centre now with a sick relative, you with be told ” we don’t have drugs go and buy” . Poor villagers are forced to contribute ma K40,000 to transport emergency cases (maternity) to district or central hospitals. Magetsi ndi awa if you have 8-12hrs of electricity that day and (during day time), praise ESCOM kuti lero ayetsesa. As if that is what is normal.
Hard-working youths are turned into beggars because their own government fails to provide the basics. If one is privileged that you live close to the border, cross the border to see the contrast. Otherwise ddp thieves are good at blackmailing and lies claiming as if zinthu are the same even to our neighboring countries!!!.
And as if to proove kuti ka dziko aka nkotembeleledwa same poverty-stricken individuals are in the forefront competing hand-clapping and boot-licking during mediocre leaders’ rallies. And these thieves amakhala ngati tsono awatemela mangolomela a arrogance of saying whatever they want. They know they have the numbers of illiterate voters. Koma uphawi uli thooo!!!
Ka dziko satana anabibilapo manyi aka.
God forbid!!!
We hired wrong leaders, unexperienced and ignorant.