Economic think tanks’ exasperation over the state of Malawi economy draws top government technocrats to recognise need for total engagement towards its recovery

* After the Malawians in diaspora maintained that the declining inflation rate at 27.1% as of June 2025 shouldn’t be celebrated for as it is way too high

* Fellow Malawians, you have grown numb to pain. This level of inflation must never ever be accepted — it is ruining your standard of living and it is wrong

Analysis by Duncan Mlanjira

Exasperated with the state of the economy, Malawian economic think tanks based in the diaspora expressed their disdain over the country’s leadership — observing that the inflation rate at 27.1% shouldn’t be publicly celebrated because it is way too high.

This followed an announcement made by Reserve Bank of Malawi (RBM) Deputy Governor, Kisu Simwaka that he posted on his official Facebook account on Wednesday, that the country’s inflation “continues to descend slowly, reaching 27.1% in June 2025 — supported by softening food prices”.

Simwaka quoted data from the National Statistical Office (NSO) which indicates that inflation has fallen from its peak of 35% in January 2024 while food inflation — “which accounts for more than half of the country’s inflation basket — dropped to 31.6% from 44.9% in January 2024”.

“Non-food inflation edged down to 20.1%, from 22% in January 2024,” Simwaka said — but he was quick to emphasise that “while the inflation has been decelerating in recent months, it remains high”.

The statement drew the wrath of economic experts in the diaspora, who belong to WhatsApp groups named HardTalk — think tank forums of various topics such as culture, politics, governance, reforms, finance and banking — that were created to solicit policy input contributions from Malawians based across the globe.

They deemed the statement as a “celebration” of success and the think tanks responded to it with vitriol opinions, saying the decline at 27.1% is way too high to afford being described as a success.

Some technocrats in the high echelons of government administration are also members of some of the HardTalk forums, who usually remain silent to some heated debates, which are aimed for the ears of the authority to request for deep dive on given suggestions to explore how they can be implemented.

As the HardTalkers lashed out at the country’s leadership and technocrats with very strong words and opinions suggesting poor governance, two of the top government technocrats responded and recognised the need for total engagement with the diaspora towards Malawi’s economic recovery.

The hot debate was started by economic expert, Thomas Ngoma — a UK-based Malawian executive management consultant, who has constantly offered guidance on how the economy can be turned around — but he and other think tanks contend that such advices fall on deaf ears.

He highlighted an example that UK’s inflation has gone up from 3.4% to 3.6%, which has caused the whole country to worry about the rising cost of living: “This is way too high from the Bank of England’s and the Treasury’s target of 2% — yet in Malawi, inflation of 27% (yep, you heard me right, 27%!) is celebrated as a success by RBM,” said Ngoma.

“Fellow Malawians, you have grown numb to pain. This level of inflation must never ever be accepted — it is ruining your standard of living and it is wrong.”

To which another think tank, Canada-based Dr. James Kadyampakeni, responded, observing that the current inflation rate cannot be celebrated as it is “a national disgrace” — adding with much vitriol that what is being witnessed “is not leadership [but] a betrayal of public trust”.

He criticised the RBM leadership of being in complicity, describing them as “enablers” and not “economic stewards who are supposed to shape the national monetary policy“.

“There is absolutely no justification for this — NONE — the suffering of the people cannot be collateral damage in the RBM’s experiment of failure. I pray to God Almighty [to] rescue Malawi on September 16th. Our nation deserves better; our children deserve better — we the citizens deserve better.”

To which Ngoma agreed to, and added that “unfortunately, the blame for economic failings has largely fallen on the heads of politicians only. That is why democratic changes in government have failed to deliver progress.

“Add corruption on top of all that, and we have a country that is performing worse than war-torn nations. How is that possible? Where is Economics Association of Malawi (ECAMA) leadership in advocating for better economic policies in Malawi, especially in public sector systems?

“Where is the National Planning Commission (NPC) to call for improved economic systems in Malawi? Malawi deserves better! 1.8% economic growth is not good for a developing nation. When the US economy grows by 3%, it means it has added US$870 billion while 1.8% for Malawi just means an addition of 230 million.”

He added that instead of meeting RBM price stability goal, “the inflation rate of 33%, is depriving them of their purchasing power [while] constant currency devaluations means RBM is not meeting its own goal of maintaining the currency value”.

“High lending interest rates of 35% to 40% means the economy cannot grow. Forex shortages are forcing manufacturing companies to fold.”

Kadyampakeni added to this by saying “Malawi needs more than street protests [but] a revolution” through the ballot, emphasising that right minded economists should not continue to be spectators.

He further bemoaned the tendency of politicians, especially in elections campaign periods in which they splash out cash to Malawians to vote for them, saying “the political elite have perfected the art of control through poverty”.

“They throw crumbs at a desperate and destitute population not to uplift them, but to tame them. They know that a hungry population is easier to silence.”

He highlighted that the high level of corruption is hijacking the nation’s future while calling on the people not to suffer in silence but to “reject leadership that thrives on poverty, deception, and manipulation”.

“We must say no to a system that rewards incompetence and punishes honesty. This is not about party, tribal or regional lines anymore — this is about survival of Malawians, who are lining up to receive K50,000 or K2,000 to attend political rallies.”

He called on learned people to be torch bearers of truth, progress and critical thinking, saying: “It pains because our nation, is not poor in potential — we are rich in resources, talent, resilience, and spirit.

“But instead of investing in visionary leadership, we keep entrusting our future on leaders who speak of unity but sow division; who promise development but deliver debt; and who talk about service while enriching themselves.

“How long will we continue to glorify mediocrity and pretend things are fine? How long will we allow our best minds to be silenced or bought by the same system that is sinking the only country we have?

“My anger is not bitterness, it’s born out of love for my country and frustration at wasted potential. It’s time for Malawians, especially those who know better, to rise above partisan interests and demand more. We deserve leadership that is honest, competent, and visionary.”

That’s when it then prompted the technocrats to respond by suggesting that maybe it can be of help if all those in the diaspora were to return home to “donate even few months” to properly inform the “critical mass on the ground” rather than “criticising the leadership while out there”.

“True, bwerani and donate even a month tithandizane ndithu. For us professionals, I believe tikuyesetsa in the prevailing conditions,” said the technocrat, adding that the  country that was being looted for years and years “now has some cleaning and building foundations.

“It has had some rooted mindsets and style of doing things, habits and characteristics which were planted and cemented. I believe and trust a trajectory has been set!”

Another technocrat responded to say: “How I wish this anger was pointed to some practical policy shifts than some familiar unspecific vocabulary. It is alright to be angry but then be angry in issues, not generic. What exactly is being said is not coming out clearly.

“Simple question is ‘what exactly are you unhappy with?’ Are you angry that those dealing with the exogenous factors are forgetting something? Without a specific policy shift suggested, the words sound more rhetorical.

“So when one hears about the efforts to transform by focusing on the agriculture, tourism, mining & manufacturing (ATMM) strategy, is it not a policy enough?”

To which another HardTalker observed that “probably” some of the Malawians in diaspora “lacked and wanted such responses in the very early days — the days when this government had goodwill from many”.

“However, it is better late than never. If possible, could you respond on monetary policy — include currency board arrangement (CBA). Critiques have consistently blamed this plus high interest rates for the dire problems in Malawi. 

“Fear is also high that corruption is killing the nation by robbing the country of its key resources. So, too, are mineral deals that look on the face of it as not good/beneficial for/to the country. Surely, if the country gets responses to some of these, donations and pro bono services would be coming in droves.”

Ngoma, while applauding the feedback from the technocrats, responded that in terms of donation of time, the forum had “already heavily invested in contributing high-quality advisory. 

“The approach we are using is to highlight the problem and propose a solution — unfortunately, by highlighting the problem, it is taken by authorities as criticism. 

“As think tank, HardTalk forums aim is to solicit policy input contributions from Malawians based across the globe. Those in authority on the ground can request a deep dive on a given suggestion to explore how it can be implemented.

“With technology, we do not necessarily need a face-to-face. But the onus is on those on the ground in positions to accommodate these ideas,” he said, adding that when President Lazarus Chakwera travelled to London, he highlighlighted this point that the diaspora “must share ideas back home”.

“However, if we do as we have done, there is no uptake,” he said, while asking the technocrat to share the achievements in government — emphasising that HardTalk “is not an opposition party” but a group of like critical minds that “just want to see Malawi head in the right direction”.

“We are cheer leaders, critics, observers — but one thing is central, we are all rooting for Malawi to prosper, politics aside. The frustration you read stems from lack of responses to the many suggestions we have made.

“Many of us or almost all of us in diaspora have our own international commitments. It is unrealistic to expect people to drop everything and donate three months in Malawi — maybe academics on sabbatical leave but for the majority, it is not possible.

“As an example, I used to conduct several presentations to the NPC core advisory panel without physically travelling to Malawi as part of the processes of devising MW2063 — for over 10 years now.”

Ngoma expressed deep gratude that their concerns have been responded to and further encouraged the technocrats to contribute and defend the official positions made on HardTalk, saying: “We have made many specific suggestions that are just being ignored by the government — yet, the current outcomes are causing pain to citizens. Our approach is problem-solution.”

He highlighted that the national problem statement is lack of forex, regular Kwacha devaluations, high inflation, high interest rates, and lack of kwacha convertibility — whose solution include “monetary policy reforms spearheaded by choosing a currency board arrangement (CBA) as the new exchange rate regime to fix all these problems ‘once cut’ all in one go”.

“The same goes for fiscal policy reforms — the use of fiscal rules and so on. Based on the problems Malawi faces, choose currency board arrangement instead. How more specific can we get?”

Kadyampakeni was also grateful for the feedback from the Malawian technocrats, saying was “unfortunate” that it had to take his anger “to generate meaningful conversation — but I suppose it’s never too late unless we pretend the ship isn’t sinking when it’s already halfway underwater”.

He thus elaborated on what made him angry, emphasising that as an economist, “it breaks me to watch my country bleed economically, while the very people entrusted to advise the government offer nothing but empty theory and political comfort”.

“I’m angry because I know we have the tools, the intellect, and the frameworks to turn this country around but what we lack is courage, urgency, and moral clarity at the policy level.”

He added that the Kwacha is in free fall; the inflation is eroding savings, salaries and dignity; the policy makers keep chasing symptoms, not root causes — yet the suggestion to implement rules based currency board management is not being considered.

“Our foreign reserves are near zero, yet we’re still pretending that donor dependency is a strategy. We’ve normalised reckless government borrowing from the Reserve Bank, as if monetising deficits doesn’t have consequences.

“We talk of economic recovery while ignoring policy credibility, fiscal discipline, and independence of monetary institutions. How do we expect to rebuild trust when our economic managers treat the economy like a public relations project instead of a system that requires discipline, accountability, and reform?

“Advisors should be the nation’s guardrails not passengers. If you’re in the room with power and you’re not challenging poor decisions, you’re enabling them. If you’re not shaking the table, you’re just part of the furniture.

“We owe future generations a functioning, trustworthy monetary system. And if those advising government today cannot deliver that or are afraid to speak the truth to power they must step aside.

“The cost of silence is national collapse. And honestly, the nation is in ruin. The bleeding continues as we are all witnessing deficit budgetary allocation of K67 billion for handouts. This is not prudence — it is reckless and irresponsible.“