Malawi economy to grow by 4.1% – Chakwera
President Dr. Lazarus Chakwera has indicated that the economy will grow by 4. 1 percent.
Chakwera made the remarks when he delivered his State of National Address (SONA) at Malawi Parliament in Lilongwe on Thursday.
“Madam Speaker, in 2022 gross domestic product is estimated to grow by 4.1 percent up from 3.0 percent in 2021, on account of economic recovery measures being implemented by Government as contained in the Socio-Economic Recovery Plan (SERP),” he said.
Chakwera said the plan acknowledges that the economy remains depressed largely due to the Covid-19 pandemic and outlines interventions to reinvigorate it.
He said, aside from the obvious investment in fixing the health system, the government will continue investing in fixing the infrastructure system to create employment and attract future investments.
The President further stated that the government will continue and intensify digitalization agenda to ensure people are able to work from anywhere, especially home.
He said the government will also build a resilient and sustainable social protection system by, among other means, administering safety nets, especially those that are productivity-enhancing.
“We expect the normalisation of global supply chains currently underway to improve trade and prices and contribute to GDP growth,” he said.
Chakwera lamented that Covid-19 has heavily affected economic outlook of the country.
“Madam Speaker, in implementing its 2021/22 National Budget, Government found itself in a situation where it had to meet a number of Covid-19 related expenditures at the same time that domestic revenues were deteriorating due to the effects of Covid-19 on taxpayers, and Government was receiving minimal donor budget support. This led government to incur a widening primary budget deficit, i.e. a budget deficit before payment of interest on loans, which was financed by domestic borrowing, which resulted in rising public debt,” he said.
He said the primary budget deficit incurred during the Financial Year ending 31 March 2022 is however projected to decline from 8.8 percent of GDP in the 2020/21 Financial Year to 7.3 percent.
“Though the decline is moderate, it does signal my Administration’s intentions to reduce the rate of borrowing and effect stringent measures to control public spending, some of which I will highlight a little later.”
Chakwera said while implementing its 2021/22 National Budget, the government found itself in a situation where it had to meet a number of Covid-19 related expenditures at the same time that domestic revenues were deteriorating due to the effects of Covid-19 on taxpayers, and the government was receiving minimal donor budget support.
“This led the government to incur a widening primary budget deficit, i.e. a budget deficit before payment of interest on loans, which was financed by domestic borrowing, which resulted in rising public debt. The primary budget deficit incurred during the Financial Year ending 31 March 2022 is however projected to decline from 8.8 percent of GDP in the 2020/21 Financial Year to 7.3 percent. Though the decline is moderate, it does signal my administration’s intentions to reduce the rate of borrowing and effect stringent measures to control public spending, some of which I will highlight a little later,” he said.
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