Malawi GDP to get 30% lift through industrialization in next five years
There are prospects that the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) could get a boost of up to 30 percent, from the present nine present nine percent, through industrialization – especially mining – by the end of the next five years.
According to Peter Simbani, principal secretary for the Ministry of Industry, government is currently working out and instituting deliberate moves that will allow smooth operation in the industry and manufacturing sectors.
He said when he appeared before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament that the ministry “wants to scrutinize the legal framework, the policies as well as strategies that have been implemented.”
He said: “One of the pillars of Malawi 2063 is industrialization and that that is the reason why government created a special ministry responsible for industry to champion the industrialization agenda.
“Government on one hand will focus on large industries where it will look at Special Economic Zones and four sites have been identified for construction of factory shells and that Capital Hill will invite investors to use the factory shells to manufacture products.
“Investors who will come in the Special Economic Zones will enjoy specific incentives that government will come with. A bill has already been prepared and, once it is passed in Parliament, it will spell out the incentives for investors.”
Simbani also explained that the Ministry of Industry has crafted the Rural Industrialization Strategy (RIS) focusing on the areas that produce specific products, citing areas such as Mwanza which produce tangerines, as one of the districts to be targeted by this strategy.
On his part, PAC chairperson, Shadreck Namalomba, said the Ministry of Trade also needed to do a lot in the promotion of industrialization in the country.
“The committee needs to convince Malawians that the country is poised to achieve the aspirations stipulated in the Malawi 2063,” Namalomba said.
Agriculture is currently the major contributor to the economy, contributing about 28 percent, followed by wholesale and trading at around 15 percent.
Early this year, President Lazarus Chakwera launched the Malawi 2063 in which Malawi is aspiring to become an upper middle-class economy by 2063.
Malawi2063 is anchored by three strategic pillars which include agricultural productivity and commercialization; industrialization; and urbanization.
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Hmmm sounds great on paper yet you do not share the incentives or commence building industrial areas another cost. A 310% jump in GDP is a Santa dream, if agriculture think outside the box and find ways to produce good quality chamba medical marijuana and Opium for pharmaceutical uses a billion dollar industries.