When Malawians create ‘foreign’ jobs

Yet another gloomy headline on Malawi’s negative or skewed trade balance on the international stage graced the Business News pages of The Nation this week. It read: ‘Malawi struggles under Sadc trade, excels in Comesa’.

This is not the first time Malawi has had negative trade with a trading bloc or country. Previously, we have read about Malawi’s negative trade balance with China, the European Union (EU), Southern Africa Development Community (Sadc) dominated by South Africa, India and the United States of America.

Essentially, a negative trade balance implies that as a country, Malawi is exporting less to its trading partners in international trade while importing more from them.

But what causes such an imbalance? There are several factors contributing to Malawi’s prevailing situation. They include a lack of competitiveness in terms of the business environment as well as Malawians’ appetite for foreign-made or imported goods. For example, I have always wondered why, as a country, given the abundant natural resources availed to us, we should be importing toothpicks from China.

To do well in international trade, Malawi needs to develop its competitiveness in terms of the business climate which has, sadly, been marred by several cobwebs such as unreliable water and power supply, high lending rates, poor infrastructure and excessive red tape in processing business registration.

Due to unreliable power and water supply, businesses are forced to incur extra costs through investments in standby generators and water tanks. In the end, businesses’ production costs go up and they pass on the same to consumers through higher prices of goods and services.

To favourably compete on the international scene, we need to demonstrate that our production costs are lower. For instance, if a good quality shirt ‘Made in Malawi’ can cost an equivalent of K2 000, cheaper than that ‘Made in China’ or ‘Made in Thailand’, that way we will be in business.

Patriotism and supporting quality products made locally is another step to avoid unnecessary drain on foreign exchange and reduce imports. I have seen high quality furniture products made locally, yet many Malawians still prefer to import from China a bedroom suite worth

K2 million.

Generally, apart from motor vehicles and electronic gadgets which we do not manufacture locally, some of the things Malawians import leave a lot to be desired. Why should one import tomatoes and table eggs, for example?

Above all, Malawi needs to be focused by undertaking an honest Swot (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) analysis on which areas to focus on and be competitive. For a start, Malawi is endowed with water and arable land which can be utilised to attain a competitive edge.

Countries such as South Korea have products such as KIA (Korea International Automotives) and Hyundai vehicles as well as Samsung gadgets that have taken the world by storm. These products got where they are through patriotism. Majority of Koreans supported them and here they are! We can do the same.

I recall in the 1980s seeing Ford pick-up vehicles whose bodies were built locally and inscribed ‘Body By Mandala’. I thought that was a good start that needed to be sustained. Who knows, by now we could have had a motor vehicle assembling plant!

Perhaps it is time we seriously revived the ‘Buy Malawian Campaign’.

In the same vein, local manufacturers should up their game in terms of standards and quality if they are to be supported.

Food for thought: Everytime we are buying foreign-made products, including bath and laundry soaps, one thing we should always bear in mind is that we are supporting foreign jobs, creating more of them whereas at the same time denying our compatriots jobs in the same industry. In the end, local manufacturers of similar products end up scaling down production and firing our brothers and sisters.