President Peter Mutharika says there are visible signs that the changing economy has led to transformation of lives in Malawi, citing motorcycles which young people in rural areas are buying.
Mutharika made the remarks at the UK-Malawi Investment Forum on Wednesday.
He said his government has made the right policy decisions and now positive-minded Malawians are busy pursuing the opportunities the government has created.
“If you come to Malawi today, you will find young men and women selling cars along the roads in every town. More Malawians can now afford a car more than ever.
“In rural communities and remote villages, young Malawians are buying motorcycles everywhere,” said Mutharika
The Malawi leader urged the businesspersons to come to Malawi and invest saying his government has improved the economy in order to create an environment where investments can grow.
He also mentioned public sector reforms, the launch of a foreign direct investment program and implementation of an aggressive infrastructure program as some of the steps his government has taken to encourage investments.
Mutharika further told the investors that Malawi has had a single digit inflation with a stable local currency for the last four years saying inflation was at the average of 8.8 percent throughout 2019.
He added that his government has reduced interest rate from 47 percent in 2014 to the current 13 percent while reserves of forex have gone up from 2 months to 6 months of import cover.
“In the past three years, we have registered impressive average growth of 4.7 percent. In 2019, our GDP grew by 5 percent. This is one of the best economic growth records in the world.
“Some economic commentators have actually forecast Malawi as the next economic boom in our part of Africa. And I am certain you want to be part of this economic growth,” said Mutharika.
According to the Malawi Government, over 50 representatives of investors attended the forum.
Mutharika went to the United Kingdom last week and on Monday he attended the UK-Africa Summit.
