Malawi Investment and Trade Centre (Mitc) says the country registered $808 million (about K666 billion) in investment pledges between July 2021 and March 2022.
The investment pledges show a jump of $738.4 million (about K608 billion) from those recorded during the same period last year, according to Mitc.
The pledges are from 35 companies in the sectors such as energy at $344 million (about K282 billion), mining at $202 million (about K166 billion), agriculture and agro processing at $106 million (about K88 billion), manufacturing at $81.6 million (about K64 billion), services at $72.6 million (about K60 billion), with the least pledges from tourism at $490 415 (K404 million).
In a written response on Friday, Mitc chief executive officer Paul Kwengwere said once implemented, the new investments are expected to create 15 499 jobs.
He said: “The investment records for the last financial year have jumped almost 1 000 percent from the previous year despite the global economic slowdown resulting from the impacts of Covid-19.
“This shows that our investment promotion and attraction activities are not in vain. Nonetheless, this year our approach on investment promotion is more focused and targeted.”
Kwengwere said Mitc is focusing on increasing its engagements with Malawi foreign missions as these are key to attracting foreign direct investments (FDIs).
Recently published World Bank figures show that Malawi’s FDI net inflows as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) have fallen.
As a percentage of GDP, FDIs have dropped from 9.9 percent or K881 billion in 2014, 4.5 percent or K401 billion in 2015, 2.1 percent or K187 billion in 2016, one percent or K89 billion in 2017, 0.8 percent or K71 billion in 2018, 0.5 percent or K44 billion in 2019 and 0.4 percent or K36 billion in 2020.
While acknowledging the declining trends in FDIs contribution to GDP, Kwengwere said the levels of actual FDIs rose from about $90 million (about k74 billion) in 2017 to $959 million (about K790 billion) in 2018, to $822 million (about K677 billion) in 2019 and a sharp decline in 2020 where the level of FDIs declined to $98 million (about K80 billion) as a result of Covid-19.
He said: “However, we have to acknowledge also that our FDI inflows are relatively low compared to countries in the region.
“We are aware that the competition for FDI is stiffer now as countries are on the path to recovery from the effects of Covid-19, but also the current war in Ukraine is also affecting business dynamics on the global market.”
Malawi Confederation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry (MCCCI) president Lekani Katandula said last week that it may take time to reverse the dwindling trend of falling FDIs in the country, depending on the speed of recovery after the pandemic because of the weak economy arising from limited budget space to improve the business environment.
In an earlier interview, Mitc spokesperson Deliby Chimbalu disclosed that investors meet different challenges as they set up their companies depending on the sectors and nature of investment.
“Investors cite various challenges which they encounter with the most common ones being those to do with the unreliable power supply to support production, access to land for investment, delays in getting sectoral permits and high transportation costs for their raw materials,” she said.
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