The Governor of Reserve Bank of Malawi (RBM) Wilson Banda has encouraged citizens in the country to start saving money for future use, saying the money they can save today could be of great use in the future when they retire.
Banda was speaking in Lilongwe yesterday during the official launch of 2023 World Savings awareness week.
According to Banda, Malawians are not doing well in as far as saving money is concerned and Malawi lags behind the average of savings in the sub-saharan region.
“Currently, National Savings proportional GDP is estimated at 9 percent. As a country, the amount of money that we are going to invest will depend on the amount of money that people save. So, our savings rates are low translating to low investments and hence the low GDP,” said Banda.
He then encouraged people in the country to have savings for the time they retire because that money will help them in many ways like school fees for their kids, funerals and so many other things.
Banda also noted that most people complain that their salaries are low and therefore they cannot save but that should be a motivation for them to start saving money.
“At any level of income, there is room to save. The mere fact that salary is low, that should be a motivation for you to save because once you save you basically build a wealth from that wealth, you generate more income. So out of your savings, you are going to get a stream of income in the future that is going to basically increase the level of income that you have. So, it is important to generate more money from yourself from your savings for future use,” said Banda.
In his remarks, CEO for Malawi Stock Exchange John Kamanga said this week they are trying to raise awareness to the general public in terms of products which are available in the capital markets and they want many people to start participating in these products and start saving money.
“So, our main aim this week is basically to raise awareness on the products which are available. In so doing, we will be in a position to stimulate interests as we are stimulating interests. We are also going to foster desire and encourage action such that the Malawian public should be in a position to participate in these products so that they start saving, as they are saving, they will be investing in shares, bonds or treasury notes,” said Kamanga.
