By Lisa Kadango Malango in Washington DC
Washington DC, September 29 Mana: World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) have pledged to fully support Malawi in areas of need as one way of addressing challenges Malawi was currently facing.
This was said when President, Dr Lazarus Chakwera after he held discussions with IMF Managing Director, Kristalina Georgieva and World Bank Managing Director Axel Von Trotsenburg in Washington DC on Wednesday.
He held discussions with IMF and World Bank on a number of key important issues.
In an interview with Managing Director of World Bank, Trotsenburg said the World Bank group was ready to assist African countries and Malawi stands to benefit.
He said President Chakwera’s government has good policies that would change Malawi and transform people’s lives hence the need for the financial support.
“The President shared some of the challenges Malawi was currently facing, Malawi needs financial support now so there was need to build our partnership and brainstorm how best we can work together to bring out results on the ground,” Trotsenburg pointed out.
He said there was need to scale up support due to the fact that Malawi as one of many other African countries have been heavily affected by effects of climate change crisis COVID- 19 pandemic and that makes difficult for countries that have less resources.
“That’s the reason why World Bank has been calling for much more support to African countries hence this meeting with Malawi’s President is timely and crucial,” the Managing Director said.
He assured the President that Malawi stands to benefit a lot and called on government to build a strong strategy that would help the people to access clean water, quality education, health systems and food security among others.
Trotsenburg added that World Bank want to be part of Malawi’s effort that would see people’s lives improve in the years to come.
President Chakwera described the two meetings are fruitful and appealed for quick support for Malawi as the country is currently going through challenges as a result of crisis and pandemics.
The discussion centered on the benchmarks Malawi was aiming to fast track the disbursement of US$ 1.5 billion which the World Bank has approved for different projects in Malawi
Later, the President held discussions on a number of key issues with IMF Managing Director, Georgieva in pursuit for credit facility for Malawi.
The World Bank group was represented by World Bank Executive Director for Africa, Taufila Nyamadzabo as well as World Bank Vice President for Eastern and Southern Africa Victoria Kwakwa.
President Chakwera continues to engage heads of various international institutions to lobby for financial support in order to strengthen collaboration and follow up pledges made in previous meetings.
The Malawi Government officials basking in the glory of the goodies in the US should be careful in the manner they are providing a running commentary concerning the on paper monetary promises made by their fundraisers/donors. This will not be the first time our underperforming government representatives have gone out to source and/or beg for money (Forex) and held press briefs on arrival only to realise that all the noises made was nothing but ‘Hot Air.
World Bank and IMF are not blind and deaf for them not to notice in the manner this government is going about dispensing public finances and indeed blowing it up on very flimsy things. A good example in time is the number of people who are on the Forex begging escapade. The very same people they are begging from are first witnesses who are able to see the big entourage accompanying the head of state and yet they say they’re seeking monetary assistance, does that make any sense at all? For starters, the clapping and ululation sessions going on both there and here at home should be done cautiously. The promised figures you are getting will not necessarily be in monetary form (hard cash), in other words not the scarce Forex being misused; the assistance will be in kind, either provision of expertise and technical advice. It therefore will be very disappointing when you won’t get the much needed forex in the country, the drooling will be there for nothing. The best they could do is to work hard to stabilise the runaway economy in the country other than banking on trips made with an aim of begging. Actually we are told the money is not meant to boost the golden forex but improvement/construction of roads and the education sector. I therefore won’t be surprised if those beggars comes back with empty bowls as they have always done in the past.