Let’s take charge of our economy—JB

Part of the speech that was delivered by Her Excellency President Joyce Banda at the opening of the Economics Association of Malawi (Ecama) 2013 Annual Lake Conference held in Mangochi.

Your Excellency Retired Chief Justice Richard Banda, SC.; Honorable Ralph Joom , M.P., Minister of Economic Planning and Development. All Cabinet Ministers and Deputy Ministers here present. Mr. Willie Samute, Deputy Chief Secretary to the Government; Mr. Edward Chilima, President of Economics Association of Malawi;Mr. Charles Chuka, Governor of the Reserve Bank of Malawi and Chair of Ecama Trustees; The Guest Speaker, Professor Anastase Shyaka – Chief Executive Officer, Rwanda Governance Board; Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen.

I am delighted to once again preside over the annual Conference of The Economics Association of Malawi (Ecama) of which I am a member. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the President and the entire leadership of Ecama for their support for the reforms that my Government is implementing. I have cherished the advice I have received from you as an association and from your members.

Distinguished ladies and gentlemen

Last year’s conference which was on the theme “Discovering the Pillars of Sustainable Economic Growth for Malawi” was very critical as the outcomes of the discussions were useful in informing the implementation of the Economic Recovery Plan.

As you may all recall, just one-and-half years ago, Malawi was in a state of an economic downturn. Among other problems: bilateral and multilateral relationships soured; fuel was difficult to find. There was shortage of foreign exchange which led to disruption in trade and investment and some companies closed down or downsized. These adverse developments affected all of us: from the well-to-do in town to the masses in the rural areas.

The bold economic reforms which my Administration embarked on, albeit painful, have been and still remain necessary. The economic recovery plan sought to achieve three objectives: macro-economic stability; cushion the poor and vulnerable through social protection programmes; and diversifying the economy and identifying new sources of growth.

As we stand today, we can all bear witness that the reforms are bearing fruit. The Kwacha has gained strength on the foreign exchange market. Monthly inflation rates have started declining from 37.9 per cent in February 2013 to about 25.2 per cent in July this year. Inflation is projected to decline further to 16 per cent by December 2013. Interest rates are going down as well and are projected to drop to 17 percent by end of this year. Production capacity for industry has also increased from 30 per cent to 75 per cent in the past one year.

The implementation of these reforms has ensured that fuel is readily available and foreign exchange reserves continued to improve from 1.5 months in April 2013 to about 2.4 months as of 23rd August 2013. The increase in import cover has been due to steady donor inflows, tobacco earnings and good monetary policies.

Distinguished ladies and gentlemen

In the past financial year, my Government has also been able to lay a strong foundation for economic recovery and sustainable growth. Our Social Security programmes have now in-built activities to wean out those who can progress to income-generating programmes. Many of our citizens have benefited from these programmes.

My Government has also initiated a number of projects that are intended to change the structure of our economy and create a conducive environment for growth. In the coming year, challenges in the energy sector will have significantly been resolved. In infrastructure, projects to revitalise the railway lines, airports and key roads are underway. In tourism, Government is finalising the electronic visa system, implementing the open sky policy and aggressively building our technical and infrastructural capacity to assert our position as “the warm heart of Africa”. In mining, both legal and policy reforms are underway; a national air borne survey will be launched shortly and will enable us to quantify our mineral resources. We will then be able to put our mineral resources on the national asset register. This exercise will enable us as a country to structure these assets to support the transformation agenda that enriches and empowers Malawians at all levels.

In Agriculture, we have embarked on diversification both within and out of agriculture. We are focused on mobilising our youth and women into cooperatives and farming clubs to become the engine of our agricultural expansion. My Government has decided to commercialise the growing of maize to boost both food security and exports. To overcome dependence on rain fed agriculture, my Government has supported a two crop a year programme with expanded irrigation. We have also reinforced animal farming.

Distinguished ladies and gentlemen

Having laid this foundation, I can confidently say that the economy has almost recovered and is on the path to growth. In 2013, growth is expected to reach about five percent, against 1.8 percent in 2012. My agenda now is to ensure continued stability so that we achieve sustainable economic growth.

These achievements have not been without challenges. The implementation of the Economic Recovery Plan (ERP) faced a number of constraints including inadequate financing and human capacity.

These challenges are influenced by both operational and environmental factors: some are self-inflicted while others are impacted on us by global dynamics. Global interests normally look at national economic interests, corporate and business ambitions and geopolitical considerations in determining their trade and investment programmes.

However, in all these, we must assume responsibility for our own circumstances, take charge of our economy and create sustainable solutions to impediments that confront us. As a nation we should not embrace democracy and good governance because of external pressure but on our own volition. My government recognises that democracy must be embraced as a public good in itself not as a pre-condition for aid. A democratic tradition, respect for human rights, and a good governance disposition allow our people to express themselves and determine their destiny as fully empowered citizens.

Distinguished ladies and gentlemen

In our country, the majority of our citizens are crippled by poverty, inequality and unemployment. We therefore need to strive to creatively and simultaneously achieve both good governance and economic prosperity as a necessity. We cannot use our historical problems to justify incompetence, corruption, lack of economic vision, poor execution, and clumsy negotiation capacity. The time for excuses is gone. As a nation, we must wake up and take charge of our destiny. And this we must do now.

Therefore, as the theme of this conference states, “Achieving efficiency in the economy” is very befitting at this stage of our development. This entails that processes and systems are efficient and responsive. It demands that the human resources therein are also well skilled and effective to carry out respective assignments. It also impresses on us whether our human development agenda is aligned to our vision as a country.

This administration has identified these challenges and we have embarked on various reforms. In order to respond to demands for high quality service in the public sector, Government continued to implement reforms aimed at enhancing accountability, transparency and efficiency in public service delivery. These include:

• Developing the Public Service Management Policy framework and revising the Public Service Act (1994);

• Promote Public Service Delivery accountability through Service Charters;

• Introduced an Organisational Performance Assessment System in the public service to monitor and evaluate performance in ministries, departments and agencies.

• Enacting the Public Service Remuneration Board Bill to address issues regarding incentives, irregularities in the pay scales among others.

• Reviewing the problems of non-promotions of high performing officials so that we create an environment conducive to high performance.

The establishment of the Projects/Programmes Implementation, Monitoring and Evaluation Unit in the Office of the President and Cabinet (OPC) last year is an attempt to ensure proper monitoring and evaluation of all development initiatives. Internal reports from this Unit indicate that many foreign currency funded projects are not either implemented or completed on time, to a certain extent due to human capacity constraints.

I have also introduced Ministerial Delivery Meetings to have first hand information on the progress and challenges the public service is facing. It was evident in the meetings that the ministries have not been talking to each other and this either retarded progress in programmes, decision making processes and duplication of efforts. The Doing Business Reform Programme has revealed that most of our ministries and departments were not complementing each other efficiently.

Government is also working to ensure that there is coordination between ministries and departments. Even more importantly is the need for all civil servants to own the national economic agenda and deliver it in the most efficient and effective way.

All the aspirations of Malawians as stipulated in the vision 2020, Malawi Growth and Development Strategy (MGDS), and also the Economic Recovery Plan (ERP) can only be achieved if we strengthen the workforce and institutions, both in the public and the private sectors.