As I write Malawi President Bingu wa Mutharika is preparing to travel back to the country he is supposed to be heading – in both times of hardship as well as times of merry-making. In his infinite wisdom, however, he decided on a holiday – in South East Asia, apparently at a time when everybody […]
Preamble: Malawi is this year running on a budget dubbed a “zero deficit budget”. Supposedly a road map to economic independence, it is causing untold misery on the masses while its champion – the President – can afford a long holiday in Hong Kong. The president’s men are also dreaming in colour, spending lavishly on […]
Just days after shocking revelations of Reserve Bank of Malawi (RBM) plans to build four multimillion swimming pools, new information has also emerged of similar extravagance by the Malawi Revenue Authority (MRA). Reports indicate that MRA plans to construct a K30 million worth swimming pool for the Commissioner General, Lloyd Muhara, at its newly acquired […]
The short supply of and deteriorating state of K20 banknotes has led to National Bank of Malawi stopping issuance of it. The bank’s Corporate Affairs Manager Annie Magola said the move was because the Reserve Bank of Malawi (RBM) was no longer issuing the K20 notes despite several requests for it. But Nyasa Times understands […]
The Reserve Bank of Malawi (RBM) is coming up with two parallel stands regarding the position of the country’s foreign reserves. In its publications the central bank says Malawi has $425 million of foreign exchange reserves, which means 3.29 months of import cover. But when put on the spot by the media this week, RBM’s […]
Condemnations continue to pour on the Reserve Bank of Malawi (RBM) for spending almost US$250,000 (K43 million) to build a swimming pool at the Governor’s official residence in Lilongwe. Published reports said over US$200,000 (K36 million) of this amount has already been spent on the project which is nearing completion. Opposition UDF top official Humphrey […]
Malawi President Bingu wa Mutharika is on leave and it is my considered opinion that he deserves one. Any employee should go on leave once in a while; more so when things in the workplace are not well and his employers, the voters, are showing increasing disapproval and dissatisfaction. But having said that, I am forced, by the […]
Malawi government’s appetite to borrow money domestically to finance its operations is attracting many investors at increasing return rates as witnessed last week on the money market. Data from the Reserve Bank of Malawi (RBM) indicates that yields on one of its popular financial instrument, Treasury Bills (TBs), rose to mostly around 7 percent at […]
Reserve Bank of Malawi says the country has been hit by counterfeit money especially targeting biggest bill of 500 kwacha, has since put a K50 000 rewards if anyone will come forward with information leading to the people behind the syndicate dealing in fake money, promising that all information received from well wishers will be kept […]
By Funny Chipala, Nyasa Times Reserve Bank of Malawi has set both luring and harsh conditions as a compensation to devalue the kwacha against the green-buck by 10 percent. The private sector and the donors cried for it, but the central bank has tied a price to the much anticipated devaluation of the local unit. […]
By Charles Kufa, Nyasa Times Reserve Bank of Malawi has devalued the kwacha currency by about 10 percent against the U.S. dollar to 165, it has been reported. According to a Reuters report, unnamed bank source said on Monday that Kwacha has been devalued, citing a directive, although the new rate is still well short […]
As Malawi is struggling to get foreign currencies, Golden Forex Bureau in Limbe which had connections with the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government is secretly exchanging the forex and government officials and Asians are biggest customers. Investigations reveal that the owner of the bureau is operating under a disguised name of a milling company called […]