Professor Paul Gadama, an economist, has urged the Malawi government to pay closer attention to four core policy levers — fiscal, monetary, regulatory and trade policy — arguing that a more coordinated approach across these areas is needed to address the country’s deepening economic challenges. Gadama said sharper focus on these instruments could help shift […]
United Democratic Front president Atupele Muluzi has argued that Malawi has achieved political liberation twice over but has failed, on both occasions, to convert that freedom into meaningful economic gains for ordinary citizens. Writing in a chapter titled “The Bumpy Ride of Malawi’s Liberation: From Hope to Despair and Back Again”, part of a new […]
Malawian workers are burning through their entire monthly salaries in as little as three to seven days, according to a damning new survey that lays bare the crushing financial pressure gripping households across the country. The eye-opening study, carried out this month by Human Resources expert Bright Limani, found alarmingly high rates of salary depletion […]
Malawians travelling and doing business across the country’s borders are continuing to complain of crippling forex shortages, with banks accused of being unwilling to exchange kwacha for dollars – despite fresh figures showing the country’s foreign exchange reserves have actually improved. According to the latest bulletin from the Economics Association of Malawi (ECAMA), the nation’s […]
Millions of hardworking Malawians and small business owners are being frozen out of formal bank loans simply because of HOW they earn their living, a leading economist has warned. Dr Bertha Bangala Chikadza, President of the Economic Association of Malawi (ECAMA) and a senior macroeconomics lecturer at the University of Malawi, revealed that an eye-watering […]
Malawi’s annual inflation rate edged down to 20.8 per cent in July, from 21.1 per cent in June, according to data released by the National Statistical Office (NSO) on August 15 — a modest 0.3 percentage point decline that offers only limited relief to households grappling with a persistently high cost of living. The moderation […]
Malawi is offering targeted investment opportunities in agriculture, energy and digital technology despite operating under significant macroeconomic strain, according to a new report from consultancy firm Don Consultancy Group (DCG), published on 4 August. The firm’s inaugural Malawi Pressure Index (MPI), covering June 2026, recorded a reading of 78, placing the country in the “high-pressure” […]
Don Consultancy Group’s inaugural Malawi Pressure Index (MPI) reading of 78 for June 2026 places the country firmly in the “High Pressure” zone. The new composite indicator, launched on 31 July 2026 in Johannesburg, South Africa, is designed as an early-warning tool — and its first signal is that Malawi’s macroeconomy is under significant strain, […]
President Professor Arthur Peter Mutharika has doubled down on his commitment to driving forward national development, insisting his government’s economic policies are finally beginning to bear fruit for ordinary Malawians. The President made the confident declaration as he addressed crowds who had gathered at Sanjika Palace in Blantyre to bid him farewell ahead of his […]
Malawi’s headline inflation eased to 21.1% in June, down from 23.4% in May, in a decline driven primarily by falling food prices, according to an analysis by Kisu Simwaka, Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of Malawi and a prominent economist, shared on Facebook. Food inflation fell sharply to 14.7% from 17.6% the previous month […]
Malawi’s heavy reliance on cash is driving up the cost of replacing damaged banknotes, with economists calling for faster uptake of digital payment systems to ease pressure on the country’s currency. The Reserve Bank of Malawi expects to spend around 69.8 billion kwacha replacing worn and damaged notes this year, up from 50.6 billion kwacha […]
There is a certain symmetry to President Arthur Peter Mutharika reaching for Tony Blair as he tries to convince the world that Malawi is open for business again. Both men are practised in the art of the comeback: Mutharika returned to State House after a period out of power promising renewal, while Blair has spent […]
Reserve Bank of Malawi (RBM) Deputy Governor Kisu Simwaka has warned that Malawi’s stubbornly high inflation cannot be defeated by monetary policy alone, arguing that the country must address deeper structural weaknesses, including foreign exchange shortages, fiscal pressures, and climate vulnerability. Simwaka says Malawi’s inflation crisis has persisted because the economy lacks the foundations required […]
Barely three months after Finance Minister Joseph Mwanamvekha unveiled what government billed as a recovery budget to revive the economy and ease pressure on ordinary Malawians, the country’s economic trajectory is moving in the opposite direction. The warning signs are no longer coming only from political opponents. They are emerging from Parliament, independent economists and […]
Civil society organisations (CSOs) have accused the government of turning its austerity programme into a public relations exercise, arguing that there is little evidence to show whether the spending cuts have delivered any measurable benefits to the country’s struggling economy. The criticism follows the government’s decision to lift a recruitment and promotion freeze in the […]
Dalitso Kabambe, president of the opposition UTM party and a former governor of the Reserve Bank of Malawi, has accused the government of turning the country’s foreign exchange management into what he called “state-sponsored criminality,” arguing that a collapse in the balance of dollar supply and demand has fuelled the growth of parallel currency markets. […]
UTM Party president Dalitso Kabambe has unleashed a scathing broadside against Malawi’s governing Democratic Progressive Party, accusing it of running the country’s economy on nothing more than a toxic formula of price hikes, begging and borrowing. The former central bank governor tore into the DPP’s handling of the economy, branding its strategy “Kwezani, Pemphani, Kabwelekeni” […]
Malawi’s investment climate is deteriorating at an alarming pace, with fresh figures showing that the country is attracting significantly less capital than it did just a few years ago—a trend economists warn is crippling job creation, slowing economic growth and dimming prospects for long-term development. Data contained in the World Bank’s June 2026 Country Private […]