Malawi’s President Lazarus Chakwera has expressed his gratitude to international partners for their support in addressing the country’s hunger crisis.
In a televised state of the nation address on MBC TV on Wednesday night, President Chakwera thanked countries such as Japan, Ukraine, China, India, and organizations like the World Bank and African Development Bank for their assistance.
“We appreciate the support from our international partners, which has helped us to deliver aid to millions of Malawians affected by hunger,” President Chakwera said.
According to the president, out of the K347 billion target needed to deliver support to 5.7 million people in need of food assistance, Malawi is still short by K89 billion.
Despite the shortfall, President Chakwera reported that 4.5 million people in 1.1 million households are being reached with either K70,000 or 50kg bags of maize cash transfer and food assistance.
However, he acknowledged that there are still 1.2 million people who need assistance.
In addition to addressing the hunger crisis, President Chakwera also tackled the issue of the fuel crisis, announcing that the government has secured $50 million from BADEA for fuel purchase.
“We have decided to adopt a government-to-government system for fuel procurement, which will help to address the short-term fuel shortage,” President Chakwera explained.
The president’s address came as Malawi struggles to cope with the effects of hunger and fuel shortages, which have affected millions of people across the country.
