Minister of Finance Simplex Chithyola Banda says Malawi has so far received 735,000 United States dollars (about K1.2 billion) through the labour export deal with Israel.
Speaking to public broadcaster MBC, Chithyola said the earnings from the Israel Labour Export arrangement are evidence that Malawi can benefit in terms of foreign exchange through labour export deals.
Since November last year, Malawi has been sending youths to work in farms in Israel.
About 1000 young people are currently in Israel through deals facilitated by agents. In Israel, some of the farms workers receive only 10 percent of their salaries while the rest of the money is sent to Malawi in dollars and the workers receive it in Kwacha through their local bank accounts.
The arrangement has, however, led to concerns from the workers that their money could be stolen by agents. Workers have also been complaining that the money they are left with is not enough to survive in Israel due to high cost of living.
Meanwhile, Malawi Government is set to strike a government to government deal with Israel with the aim of sending 100,000 Malawians to work in Israel.
This was revealed last month when a delegation from Malawi led by Secretary to Treasury Betchani Tchereni visited Israel.
