Creating Markets in Malawi : The Road to Recovery : Turning Crisis into Economic Opportunity - Country Private Sector Diagnostic

Malawi is at a turning point in its political, social, and economic trajectory. Lazarus Chakwera was sworn in as Malawi’s sixth president in June 2020. This marked a historic moment: the first time in Africa that an opposition candidate won a presidential election following initial results being ove...

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Main Author:	International Finance Corporation
Format:	Report
Language:	en_US
Published:	World Bank, Washington, DC 2022
Subjects:	PRIVATE SECTOR FOREIGN INVESTMENT MARKET ORIENTATION GOVERNANCE ISSUES NONCONDUCIVE BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT INFRASTRUCTURE GAPS ENERGY SECTOR CONECTIVITY AGRIBUSINESS
Online Access:	http://hdl.handle.net/10986/37847

id	okr-10986-37847
recordtype	oai_dc
spelling	okr-10986-378472022-08-15T21:04:27Z Creating Markets in Malawi : The Road to Recovery : Turning Crisis into Economic Opportunity - Country Private Sector Diagnostic International Finance Corporation PRIVATE SECTOR FOREIGN INVESTMENT MARKET ORIENTATION GOVERNANCE ISSUES NONCONDUCIVE BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT INFRASTRUCTURE GAPS ENERGY SECTOR CONECTIVITY AGRIBUSINESS Malawi is at a turning point in its political, social, and economic trajectory. Lazarus Chakwera was sworn in as Malawi’s sixth president in June 2020. This marked a historic moment: the first time in Africa that an opposition candidate won a presidential election following initial results being overturned. After widespread unrest prior to the election, Malawians, especially the youth, have been demanding greater accountability, an end to corruption, and tangible progress on eradicating persistent poverty levels that exceed 70 percent of the population. The average gross national income (GNI) of a Malawian is the third lowest in the world, just US$380 as of 2019. The Chakwera administration will need to find a way to unify the country’s fractured political landscape and deliver on development promises. On top of these challenges, the new administration must also navigate the ongoing and evolving economic shocks of the COVID-19 pandemic. Gross domestic product (GDP) growth expectations for 2020 have been lowered from 4.8 percent to 0.8 percent. Recent efforts to build fiscal and institutional resilience have helped but need to be strengthened. The pandemic’s fallout has weakened the country’s macroeconomic foundations, and the overall risk of debt distress is now high. Meanwhile, human capital gains are at risk. Poverty reduction is expected to stagnate, and overall poverty could potentially worsen. The pandemic will likely exacerbate existing inequalities in economic opportunities for women. Women-owned firms, for example, are primarily concentrated in informal agriculture and services, sectors that lack basic social protections to buffer against economic distress. Female farmers, for example, generally have lower access to productive inputs, information, and liquidity than male farmers, so in times of crisis, their farm productivity and food security can be hit harder. 2022-08-08T23:55:06Z 2022-08-08T23:55:06Z 2021-06 Report http://hdl.handle.net/10986/37847 en_US CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo International Finance Corporation World Bank, Washington, DC Economic & Sector Work Economic & Sector Work :: PSD, Privatization and Industrial Policy Africa Eastern and Southern (AFE) Africa Malawi
repository_type	Digital Repository
institution_category	Foreign Institution
institution	Digital Repositories
building	World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection	World Bank
language	en_US
topic	PRIVATE SECTOR FOREIGN INVESTMENT MARKET ORIENTATION GOVERNANCE ISSUES NONCONDUCIVE BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT INFRASTRUCTURE GAPS ENERGY SECTOR CONECTIVITY AGRIBUSINESS
spellingShingle	PRIVATE SECTOR FOREIGN INVESTMENT MARKET ORIENTATION GOVERNANCE ISSUES NONCONDUCIVE BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT INFRASTRUCTURE GAPS ENERGY SECTOR CONECTIVITY AGRIBUSINESS International Finance Corporation Creating Markets in Malawi : The Road to Recovery : Turning Crisis into Economic Opportunity - Country Private Sector Diagnostic
geographic_facet	Africa Eastern and Southern (AFE) Africa Malawi
description	Malawi is at a turning point in its political, social, and economic trajectory. Lazarus Chakwera was sworn in as Malawi’s sixth president in June 2020. This marked a historic moment: the first time in Africa that an opposition candidate won a presidential election following initial results being overturned. After widespread unrest prior to the election, Malawians, especially the youth, have been demanding greater accountability, an end to corruption, and tangible progress on eradicating persistent poverty levels that exceed 70 percent of the population. The average gross national income (GNI) of a Malawian is the third lowest in the world, just US$380 as of 2019. The Chakwera administration will need to find a way to unify the country’s fractured political landscape and deliver on development promises. On top of these challenges, the new administration must also navigate the ongoing and evolving economic shocks of the COVID-19 pandemic. Gross domestic product (GDP) growth expectations for 2020 have been lowered from 4.8 percent to 0.8 percent. Recent efforts to build fiscal and institutional resilience have helped but need to be strengthened. The pandemic’s fallout has weakened the country’s macroeconomic foundations, and the overall risk of debt distress is now high. Meanwhile, human capital gains are at risk. Poverty reduction is expected to stagnate, and overall poverty could potentially worsen. The pandemic will likely exacerbate existing inequalities in economic opportunities for women. Women-owned firms, for example, are primarily concentrated in informal agriculture and services, sectors that lack basic social protections to buffer against economic distress. Female farmers, for example, generally have lower access to productive inputs, information, and liquidity than male farmers, so in times of crisis, their farm productivity and food security can be hit harder.
format	Report
author	International Finance Corporation
author_facet	International Finance Corporation
author_sort	International Finance Corporation
title	Creating Markets in Malawi : The Road to Recovery : Turning Crisis into Economic Opportunity - Country Private Sector Diagnostic
title_short	Creating Markets in Malawi : The Road to Recovery : Turning Crisis into Economic Opportunity - Country Private Sector Diagnostic
title_full	Creating Markets in Malawi : The Road to Recovery : Turning Crisis into Economic Opportunity - Country Private Sector Diagnostic
title_fullStr	Creating Markets in Malawi : The Road to Recovery : Turning Crisis into Economic Opportunity - Country Private Sector Diagnostic
title_full_unstemmed	Creating Markets in Malawi : The Road to Recovery : Turning Crisis into Economic Opportunity - Country Private Sector Diagnostic
title_sort	creating markets in malawi : the road to recovery : turning crisis into economic opportunity - country private sector diagnostic
publisher	World Bank, Washington, DC
publishDate	2022
url	http://hdl.handle.net/10986/37847
_version_	1764487984755769344

Creating Markets in Malawi : The Road to Recovery : Turning Crisis into Economic Opportunity - Country Private Sector Diagnostic

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