Of Malawi's Economic Growth and the Reality

Business: Economy’s harsh reality
by Taonga Sabola, 09 April 2006 - 06:49:10 Picture this. An economic growth forecast of seven to eight percent, bumper maize and tobacco harvest, an aid programme with International Monetary Fund (IMF), a declining fiscal deficit...The list could go on. What more does one need? Is this not honeymoon time again? At one point, even Britain’s locally-based top economic advisor, Alan Whitworth commended government’s management of the Treasury purse. And just last month, an IMF mission leader Calvin Mc Donald had more goodies for the ear; just the news anyone would have loved to hear. “In assessing performance under the Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility (PRGF) [lending programme with Malawi], the mission found that all quantitative targets through end-December 2005 were met,” he said. “There has been progress in implementing structural reforms, although at a lower pace than anticipated. Hence, most structural targets were only met with a delay,” he added. But unfortunately, the sweet-sounding story seems to end there. What remains thereafter is a berating noise of reality as it hammers at the ear. If one were to ask Simeon Nfunokutcha, the tale of reality on the ground would be told without a twist. Nfunokutcha is a second-hand clothes vendor at Ntcheu boma. He does not deny what the high-sounding messengers of the economy are saying—but rather that what they have to say is hard to believe and no different from the rhetoric he has grown tired of hearing in his 29 years on earth. For this Ntcheu clothes vendor, the economy cannot be said to be fine when he is struggling to put food on the table to feed his family of four children. From sun up to sun down—Monday through Sunday—Nfunokutcha waits for customers to come and buy from him. But to his awe, hardly a handful is turning up these days, he says. Those very few that come go back as fast as they arrived, most times cursing under their breath for the “high” prices he is pegging to his used clothes. “To me the economy can only be said to be in good shape when commodity prices are kept under control. There are no signs to show that the economy is in good shape,” he told Economic Report. Mabvuto Tebulo is a hardware trader in down town Blantyre. In recent years, life for him has been another nightmare with no signs of getting better. Tebulo reminisces that the old days of former President Hastings Kamuzu Banda were far much better. “In the days of ‘Angwazi’, we did not worry about economy this and economy that. You did not need to worry about how the economy was doing. But now, the economy is stupid,” he said, rather out of anger and frustration than anything. Everyone seems to be complaining, anyway. So when Economic Report bumped into Thomas Matewere at Bvumbwe produce market, his reaction could have been easily discernible. Not too long ago, Matewere ‘graduated’ from Secondary School with an MSCE, thinking everything would be rosy. In his mind, everything was going to be simple; knock on a few offices in town, and a clerical job would be had. He even thought lamely about buying his own Toyota Carina after a year on that job. Reality however, had its own lessons to teach. To Matewere’s utter disbelief, the job he had always dreamed of was nowhere to be had. Roam the streets for a year he did, even though he knew he was not born a cell phone handset. When the soles of his only pair of shoes started to give in—what with walking long distances in search of the job—Matewere became wiser; there are no jobs! It was then that he settled for vegetable business at Bvumbwe, where Economic Report found him. “A lot of school leavers can’t get a job out there. I know many friends in town who have settled for mini-bus touting,” Matewere, 25 said. Sadly, that is the reality—not the rhetoric—for most Malawians.