Banker says the Kwacha must not be fixed

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George Patrige

A player in the banking industry says that fixing the Malawi Kwacha is not a solution to the continuing depreciation of the local currency against the dollar.

The Malawi Kwacha is faring well on the market as it is hovering around K560 to the dollar which was previously at K580 to the United States dollar.

George Patrige
Patrige: Says currency should not be fixed.

As one way of maintaining it, the general public and economic commentators are insisting that the currency should be fixed.

However, Chief Executive Officer of National Bank of Malawi George Patrige says the remedy is that the Kwacha must find its true value.

“The only solution is that the Kwacha must find its true value, if it does not then it would encourage other people who sell the exchange rate,” said Patrige.

He further said that the current policy is discouraging imports and incentivizing exports and it is a natural remedy to sort out the situation.

“If we have to adhere to what the popular are saying to fix the Kwacha then we will be perpetrating the same problem we are trying to sort out,” he said.

In September this year government through the ministry of Finance said it had no plans to change its current policy on the exchange rate and start fixing the Kwacha in the wake of continued depreciation of the local currency.