New Vice-President Michael Usi should prioritise honest counseling to Chakwera on the economy—Chief Economist Chifipa Mhango

New Vice-President Michael Usi

* Malawi cannot continue to present itself as a reckless spender from the fiscal perspective, with a muted voice from its Vice-President

* Malawi cannot continue to rank high on global corruption index, with a muted voice from its Vice-President

* Malawi cannot continue to have high unemployment rate for its youth and women, with a muted voice from its Vice-President

By Duncan Mlanjira

As Malawi has concluded the 21-day of mourning for the departed Vice-President Saulos Chilima, it is now official duty call for the newly-appointed Vice-President Michael Usi and he is being advised to prioritise right and honest counselling on the economy to President Lazarus Chakwera.

This is the observation of Chief Economist, Chifipa Mhango — the director of economic research & strategy for South Africa’s Don Consultancy Group (DCG), saying Usi holds the key to support President Chakwera “with concrete implementable solutions to transforming the Malawi economy”.

“Malawi as a nation is facing enormous challenges on the economic front, ranging from low economic growth rates, with recent annual data at 1.5% for 2023, high inflation rate of 32.7%, with a concerning food inflation rate of 40.7%, a high central bank lending rate of 26%, among the top five highest in Africa.

“Malawi Government debt to GDP is at over 80%, which is unstainable, with prolonged years of negative trade balance. The country continues to be ranked poorly on its corruption index coupled with high unemployment levels especially amongst women and the youth.

“Looking at this high-level picture of the economy of Malawi, we expect the newly-appointed Vice President, to consider prioritising his advisory duties to President Chakwera on how this economic landscape of Malawi can be transformed, with honest and practical solutions.”

Mhango further says although it may be appreciated of the efforts that Chakwera’s administration has put in place to support a high economic growth rate trajectory for the country, “more needs to be done to guide this process with an honest representation of facts, based on data and actual views of Malawians on the ground”.

“That is the duty expected from a Vice-President,” Mhango said, while highlighting areas of focus that with a muted voice from its Vice-President, Malawi cannot continue to present itself as a reckless spender from the fiscal perspective.

And that with Usi muted, Malawi cannot continue to rank high on global corruption index and that it cannot continue to have high unemployment rate for its youth and women.

“With a muted voice from the Vice-President, Malawians cannot continue to face a high cost of living with rocketing food prices [and] cannot continue with economic growth rates of below 3%.”

He added that the country “cannot continue on a weak governance process path especially in areas of Government procurement system, with a muted voice from its Vice-President”.

“These are the high expectations of duty that the newly-appointed Vice President has effective yesterday. The right and honest counsel to President Chakwera is what is expected in dealing with the overall economic challenges the country is facing, for a brighter and prosperous nation.

“The reality of the situation is that Dr Michael Usi has only 14 months to prove his worth and value to Malawians on how effective he will be, going by the election scheduled for September 2025.”