Malawi President, Vice cut own salaries by 30%
Malawian President Joyce Banda and Vice President Khumbo Kachali have voluntarily cut down their salaries by 30 percent as part of their support to the current austerity measures, the Vice President has announced.
The Vice President made the announcement during he launch of the Malawi Growth and Development Strategy II and Economic Recovery Plan at the Bingu International Conference Centre in Lilongwe on Friday.
“In support of the austerity measures, the President and the Vice President have voluntarily decided to reduce their monthly salaries by 30 percent with immediate effect. Government is also actively considering other cost cutting measures and these will be announced in due course,” said Kachali.
On the Economic Recovery Plan, the Vice President said it has identified five strategic sectors that can quickly that can quickly turn around the economy for export led growth and foreign exchange generation.
“These are Energy, Mining, Tourism, Agriculture, Transport infrastructure development and Information Communication Technology. Privatization of these sectors will provide Malawi with a comperative advantage favourably in regional and international markets,” said Kachali.
Reforms
He said using the Economic Recovery Plan “as an instrument to rejuvenate the economy”, the JB government has been able to undertake a number of policy reforms particularly in the monetary sector.
“These reforms, I am glad to say, have within a short period of time managed to start bringing back the much needed foreign reserves in our economy hence enabling us to freely import strategic commodities such as fuel, drugs and other raw materials for the industries.”
He said government has “built in the plan measures” that will cushion the vulnerable from the impact of the reforms.
Since coming to power in April, President Banda has embarked on a series of reforms designed to fix Malawi’s battered economy, which has been hit by fuel shortages and dwindling foreign currency reserves.
But the leadership recently came under heavy criticism for huge travel bill to United States when Banda picked a 40-member delegation to the United Nations general assembly.
