New vessels to ply on Lake Malawi | The Times Group

New vessels to ply on Lake Malawi | The Times Group: BY CHIMWEMWE MANGAZI, IN DAR ES SALAAM, TANZANIA:

Malawian business operators have been urged to make full use of two new Tanzanian vessels when transporting cargo between the two countries.

The vessels, with a capacity of 1,000 metric tonnes each, would start plying on Lake Malawi soon.

They are expected to help business operators cut on transportation costs.

This comes at a time Malawi is spending over $6.4 million [about K4.6 billion] every month importing fuel alone into the country through road transport.

Malawi's Ultra-Poverty Levels Down By 4 Percent - allAfrica.com

Malawi's Ultra-Poverty Levels Down By 4 Percent - allAfrica.com: Lilongwe — Malawi has reduced extreme poverty levels by at least 4 percent between the years 2011 and 2017, a recent report by the National Statistics Office (NSO) has said.

NSO released the latest Integrated Household Survey (IHS4) report Tuesday at Golden Peacock Hotel in Lilongwe

MPC maintains policy rate at 16% | The Times Group

MPC maintains policy rate at 16% | The Times Group: MPC maintains policy rate at 16%
Posted By: Tom Sangalaon: July 05, 2018In: BusinessNo Comments
BY TAONGA SABOLA:

The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting of the Reserve Bank of Malawi (RBM) yesterday resolved to maintain the indicative price of money, technically known as policy rate, at 16 percent.

This is the second time MPC has kept the policy rate unchanged since slashing it by 200 basis points in December 2017.

The MPC decision has not come as a major surprise to many Malawians as it comes barely two months after inflation threatened to run away, rising to 9.9 percent in March before crawling back to 8.9 percent in May.

Donors want justice on police fraud | The Times Group

Donors want justice on police fraud | The Times Group: The European Union (EU) and the United States (US) in Malawi have said they expect that the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) will pursue investigations in relation to suspected fraud in a Malawi Police Service (MPS) contract without any interference.

A leaked document of investigations by ACB on the contract between MPS and Pioneer Investments implicated President Peter Mutharika as having benefitted from what the graft-busting body suspects were fraudulent transactions in the contract.

Lack of budget support Affects economy—IMF - The Nation Online

Lack of budget support Affects economy—IMF - The Nation Online: YOU ARE HERE: Home → Lack of budget support Affects economy—IMF

Lack of budget support Affects economy—IMF
Orama Chiphwanya July 5, 2018 0 Comments
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International Monetary Fund (IMF) country representative Jack Ree says the absence of direct budget support for the past four years has inflicted pain on the country’s economy.

In an interview on Tuesday, the IMF official was, however, upbeat that things may turn the corner, saying there is potential for the country to do even better in the absence of budget support.

“Experience in the region suggests that countries can become financially independent only when it can raise financing from the financial market.

Declining inflation Draws mixed views - The Nation Online

Declining inflation Draws mixed views - The Nation Online: Declining inflation Draws mixed views
Grace Phiri July 2, 2018 0 Comments
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Malawi’s year-on-year inflation for May 2018 dropped by 0.8 percentage points to 8.9 percent from 9.7 percent the previous month, a development that has drawn mixed reactions from two economists.

National Statistical Office (NSO) figures show that declining food and non-food inflation influenced overall inflation to drop in the month. This means that prices of goods and services in May increased at a declining rate compared to April.

Malawi in $98.9 million BoP deficit in Q1 | The Times Group

Malawi in $98.9 million BoP deficit in Q1 | The Times Group: Malawi recorded a Balance of Payments (BoP) deficit of US$98.9 million (K71.7 billion) in the first quarter of 2018, statistics from the Reserve Bank of Malawi (RBM) have shown.

This is compared to a BoP surplus of US$18.1 million (K13.2 billion) the country recorded in the quarter ended December 31, 2017.

The deficit represents a jump of 84 percent from US$53.8 million (K38.8 billion) deficit recorded in the first quarter of 2017.

Demand for Malawi Rice on the rise—EDF - The Nation Online

Demand for Malawi Rice on the rise—EDF - The Nation Online: With the allure of tobacco fast dwindling on the global market, demand for Malawi’s kilombero rice seems to be on the rise with countries such as Venezuela enquiring for 200 000 metric tonnes (MT) this year.

Malawi’s kilombero rice is famed for its aromatic flavour and is one of the most sought agricultural produce worldwide.

Figures from Export Development Fund (EDF), a financing institution for export business, show that the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Zambia are each looking for 100 000MT while Zimbabwe wants 56 000MT.

Budget: The devil is in the detail - The Nation Online

Budget: The devil is in the detail - The Nation Online: Budget: The devil is in the detail
Aubrey Mchulu June 28, 2018 0 Comments
Predictably, members of Parliament (MPs) on both sides of the National Assembly on Friday unanimously cheered after passing the K1.45 trillion 2018/19 National Budget.

They had all the reason to celebrate because-besides giving Treasury the mandate to raise and spend money in the new fiscal year rolling out this July 1 through the passing of the Appropriation Act—they personally benefitted after dramatically forcing the government to increase their salaries, allowances and development funding for their respective areas.

Cotton revenue set to soar this year—Aicc - The Nation Online

Cotton revenue set to soar this year—Aicc - The Nation Online: Cotton revenue set to soar this year—Aicc
Orama Chiphwanya July 4, 2018 0 Comments
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Players in the cotton sector are projecting revenue from the crop to rise to $12 million (about K8.7 billion), thanks to good prices and increased output than last year.

This means revenue will� rise by 200 percent from the previous year’s $4 million (K2.9 billion), according to African Institute for Corporate Citizen (Aicc) projections.

Aicc chief executive officer Felix Lombe said in an interview on Monday the country will produce slightly below 20 000 metric tonnes (MT) from last year’s 11 000MT.