Govt closes OG Plastics for thin plastics production
The Department of Environmental Affairs on Thursday closed OG Plastics Industry factory in Blantyre for producing thin plastics contrary to...
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CSOs call for intensified voter civic education
National Initiative for Civic Education (Nice) Trust has called on election stakeholders to intensify voter education to reduce chances of...
Experts caution on school opening
Epidemiologist Dr Titus Divala has advised authorities to exercise caution on the proposal to re-open schools and the economy, saying...
Fresh poll fears
By July 3, barely 30 days from now, Malawi is supposed to have a President put in office through a...
APM courting impeachment—lawyers
Two prominent lawyers have warned President Peter Mutharika that he will be committing an impeachable offence by frustrating the fresh...
‘No EU poll observers’
The European Union (EU) has said it will not send its election observer mission for the forthcoming fresh presidential election....
Covid-19 response budget up
The budget for Malawi’s National Coronavirus (Covid-19) Preparedness and Response Plan has been revised upwards by K97 billion from K157...
New budget to focus on economic recovery
Minister of Finance, Economic Planning and Development Joseph Mwanamvekha says the 2020/21 National Budget will primarily focus on mitigating the...
APM to deliver recorded Sona to Parliament
In an apparent bid to decongest Parliament in compliance with coronavirus precautionary measures, especially social distancing, President Peter Mutharika will...
High Court upholds Chaponda maizegate acquittal
Former minister of Agriculture George Chaponda yesterday walked to freedom once again after the High Court in Zomba sustained an...
High Court intervenes on CSOs leaders’ arrest
High Court judge Kenyatta Nyirenda has issued a stay order stopping the Lilongwe Magistrate’s Court from continuing with criminal proceedings...
Schools may re-open July 13
The National Planning Taskforce on Covid-19, Education Sector has recommended that schools, colleges and universities should re-open on July 13...
Election indelible ink, thumbprint pads in today
Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) will today take delivery of a consignment of indelible link and thumbprint pads ahead of the...
Malawian Airlines seeks K385m Covid-19 bailout
Malawian Airlines is seeking a K385 million bailout to pay its staff in the face of lost revenue due to...
Whither civility?
Podium insults frustrate policy discourseRebuke politicians, reject their ways—PAC A sitting male Head of State—Peter Mutharika—on Monday, in the comfort...
Law Society takes on APM on judges’ attack
Malawi Law Society (MLS) has reprimanded President Peter Mutharika over his continued attacks of the Malawi Supreme Court of Appeal...
![President Peter Mutharika has said in his New Year's message Malawi is set to make progress this year after his government erected economic building blocks over the past five years."In the past five years, we have collectively saved the economy from the ruins of 2014 to the stability and inspiring growth we are seeing,” he said. “By all international standards, Malawi has proven to be an economic performing star— a rising African star. This is what patriotic Malawians can do for their country." The President pointed out that in the past five years, Malawi has started making progress which this country lost in 1979, adding Malawi’s economy was ahead of China and other countries in income per capita but due to state violence and oppression, people’s participation in the economy was inhibited.Mutharika said with violence and oppression the country was creating poverty instead of ending it. He, therefore, praised development partners and foreign governments for their support and endorsing the progress Malawi is making.He mentioned Global Fund which has committed to supporting Malawi with $500 million and International Monetary Fund for resuming budget support for the first time since it was suspended in 2013, as some of the partners who have shown their confidence in his government. "We also have serious investors who intend to start building a city in Mangochi, together with Mangochi Airport and a five star hotel. We are set to make progress,” he said,However, the Malawi Confederation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry believes as much as Malawi is making progress serious challenges remain.In its assessment of business in 2019, the chamber—which is the voice of the private sector—decried rampant corruption and persistent power cuts which it said impacted negatively on investment and business.For instance, MCCCI said gross domestic product (GDP) growth rates in the past five years reflect lack of meaningful creation of wealth by the private sector owing to persistent insurmountable obstacles to doing business whose solutions are not forthcoming. “While progress was made in increasing the electricity carrying capacity of the national grid, thanks to the United States Government’s grant assistance through the Millennium Challenge Corporation, there is need to generate adequate electricity for the expanded grid to carry. “It was expected that Egenco [Electricity Generation Company] and other Independent Power Producers [IPPs] would measure up to the expectations but thus far, that has not happened. Issuance of licences to IPPs took inordinately long and therefore their start time was pegged back,” reads the 2019 Business Environment Assessment report signed by MCCCI chief executive officer Chancellor Kaferapanjira and its president Prince Kapondamgaga.Due to this depressed scenario, MCCCI says the performance of the private sector—often referred as the engine of the economy—will likely continue to be negatively affected unless authorities appreciated the impact of these challenges on the private sector and ultimately on the economy and worked on them.Despite the power and finance challenges, the Reserve Bank of Malawi (RBM) agrees with Mutharika that Malawi has turned a corner. RBM Governor Dalitso Kabambe in earlier interviews also downplayed the fears of sluggish growth, saying the economy is on track as evidenced by stable inflation and exchange rates as well as stable fuel prices.RBM also maintains the economy will still grow by five percent in 2020. “Our projection is data intensive. Therefore, we cannot speculate based on what is happening out there, but we use available data,” he told Business News last month.](https://www.mwnation.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Peter-Mutharika-350x250.jpg "Govt closes OG Plastics for thin plastics production 17 | The Nation Online")
APM joins vote chase
President Peter Mutharika on Monday ambivalently eased back into public life after weeks of seclusion and launched a fight for...
Security earns police praise
Police have earned rare praise for tightening security during campaign rallies the opposition Tonse Alliance held at the weekend, with...
China donates Covid-19 PPEs to Cham
The Chinese Government has donated face masks and hospital caps to Christian Health Association of Malawi (Cham) to help in...
Malawi receives K7.5bn education grant
Malawi has received K7.5 billion from Global Partnership for Education (GPE) to support the Covid-19 education response for the next...
