Publication: Malawi Economic Monitor, July 2023 - Powering Malawi's Growth: Rapidly and Sustainably Increasing Energy Access
Loading...
Published
2023-07-24
ISSN
Date
2023-07-24
Author(s)
Editor(s)
Abstract
The Malawi Economic Monitor (MEM) provides an analysis of economic and structural development issues in Malawi. This 17th edition was published in July 2023 and is part of an ongoing series published twice each year. The publication intends to foster better-informed policy analysis and debate regarding the key challenges that Malawi faces in its endeavor to achieve inclusive and sustainable economic growth.
Link to Data Set
Citation
“World Bank. 2023. Malawi Economic Monitor, July 2023 - Powering Malawi's Growth: Rapidly and Sustainably Increasing Energy Access. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/40068 License: CC BY-NC 3.0 IGO.”
Associated URLs
Associated content
Other publications in this report series
Journal
Journal Volume
Journal Issue
Collections
Related items
Showing items related by metadata.
Publication Nigeria Economic Report, No. 2, July 2014(Washington, DC, 2014-07)The Nigerian Economic Report (NER) is a regular publication of the World Bank. Each edition of the NER includes a macroeconomic overview and gives special attention to an additional topic of high policy relevance. In addition to macroeconomic performance, this edition of the NER focuses on recent releases of new statistical information. First, newly re-based Gross Domestic Product figures indicate a larger, more diversified, and complex economy in Nigeria than was hitherto reported, with significant contributions to growth coming from manufacturing and some services not captured in previous data. Second, Chapter 2 provides an analysis of recent NBS GHS household survey data, which supports the hypothesis that the larger NBS HNLSS survey of 2009/2010 may have underestimated consumption.Publication Malawi Economic Monitor, May 2016(World Bank, Lilongwe, Malawi, 2016-05)This report consists of two parts: Part 1 presents a review of recent economic developments and a macroeconomic outlook. Part 2 focuses in greater depth on a special, selected topic relevant to Malawi's development prospects. This report focuses on agricultural risk management. Malawi is now set to suffer a second year of poor harvests due to the effects of a drought that is sweeping Southern Africa. This drought has had a serious impact both on the economy and on food security, requiring a major humanitarian response. The current situation underscores Malawi's serious need to improve the resilience of the agricultural sector and to develop a better system of risk management. With the country expected to continue to face climate-induced shocks into the future, it is vital that the Government considers how best to mitigate the impact of such shocks. In 2015 Malawi recorded a GDP growth rate of just 2.8 percent, with this low rate the result of both adverse weather conditions and macroeconomic instability. Flooding in southern districts followed by a countrywide drought resulted in a contraction in agricultural production. Maize, the key crop in terms of food security, recorded a 30.2 percent year-on-year drop in production. As a result, an estimated 2.8 million people (17 percent of the population) were unable to meet their 2015/16 food requirements.Publication Turkey - Country Economic Memorandum : Towards Macroeconomic Stability and Sustained Growth, Volume 1. Summary Report(Washington, DC, 2003-07-28)This report addresses key questions facing Turkish policymakers: how to sustain the economic recovery that began in 2002 following the deep crisis of 2001, how to ensure disinflation and public debt sustainability, and how to foster broad-based and equitably distributed growth in the future. After a brief review of the 2001 crisis and the Government response, the report analyzes the economic opportunities and challenges facing Turkey, and identifies policies to build on the economic recovery which began in 2002. The CEM develops a comprehensive four-point agenda for sustainable and more equitably distributed growth. The agenda encompasses: (i) macroeconomic stability, (ii) effective government, (iii) improved business environment, and (iv) stronger social policies. The report closes with medium-term macroeconomic projections to illustrate Turkey's prospects under a scenario of sustained reform and to highlight the risks to growth and macroeconomic stability should the economic program go off track.Publication Malawi Economic Monitor, July 2025(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-08-15)Malawi’s economy is in a deep and protracted crisis marked by elevated inflation, declining living standards, and high rates of food insecurity. Since 2020, Malawi’s economy has experienced a deep and protracted economic crisis. Economic growth rates have dropped from an average of 4.1 percent (2011-2019) to 2.2 percent since 2020. This economic growth rate is below the population growth rate of 2.6 percent, resulting in declining incomes for the average Malawian. In 2024, economic output growth further slowed to 1.8 percent, influenced by an El-Niño-induced drought and continued foreign exchange shortages. While external shocks like cyclones, droughts, and geopolitical instability have adversely affected Malawi, their impacts were exacerbated by policy shortfalls. Neighboring countries have tended to recover more quickly from the same shocks, but Malawi’s challenges have been compounded by longstanding policies that have contributed to widening fiscal and current account deficits. These include a procyclical fiscal policy stance, an overvalued official exchange rate, unsustainable borrowing practices, increasing trade restrictions, and price controls. Exchange rate distortions have grown, driving parallel market premia to periodically exceed 150 percent. The government’s economic reform program, supported by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Extended Credit Facility and development partner support, was launched in November 2023 to restore macroeconomic stability. However, program implementation faced numerous challenges and was not able to stabilize the economy, resulting in its automatic termination in May 2025. As Malawians navigate both global and domestic uncertainty, the 21st edition of the Malawi Economic Monitor argues for the importance of taking urgent and targeted actions to stabilize the economy. Malawi’s economy is facing increasing pressure from rising imbalances, shifting global trade and aid dynamics, and the upcoming general elections. It will be important to focus on stabilization, along with a coherent macroeconomic framework that does not further exacerbate a deterioration of fiscal and external balances. There are some bright spots in the economy, especially through mega-projects in the energy and mining sectors that are advancing. For these to help drive growth, sectoral and macro-fiscal reforms will need to move forward to ensure the country makes the most of these opportunities.Publication Albania - The New Growth Agenda : A Country Economic Memorandum(World Bank, 2010-11-02)Since 1998 Albania has experienced an important transformation that has lifted it into the ranks of upper middle income countries and has allowed a sharp reduction in poverty. Growth averaged more than 6 percent per year between 1998 and 2010, the best performance in Europe. This helped to reduce absolute poverty by half, with the headcount rate falling from 25 percent of the population in 2002 to 12 percent in 2008. The recent period of global turmoil has dampened growth somewhat but not as sharply as in many other countries. These challenges suggest the need for a 'new growth agenda' and this is the central topic of the report. The report is organized into four chapters. Chapter one gives a macroeconomic overview, examines the potential vulnerabilities of the economy and proposes measures for maintaining macro-financial stability of the economy. It further elaborates the growth challenges Albania faces as newly arrived upper middle income country. Chapter two describes the human capital needs of the new growth agenda and focuses on education and skills. Chapter three examines the backbone infrastructure, while the final chapter addresses the investment climate and factors influencing the return on investment. The report provides a diagnosis of some of the key factors likely to drive future growth but without recommending specific products or areas for private investment. The report argues instead that the role of the government in this process is that of facilitator, removing the obstacles to investment and helping to provide information and institutions that private firms require to flourish.
Users also downloaded
Showing related downloaded files
Publication Digital Africa(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2023-03-13)All African countries need better and more jobs for their growing populations. "Digital Africa: Technological Transformation for Jobs" shows that broader use of productivity-enhancing, digital technologies by enterprises and households is imperative to generate such jobs, including for lower-skilled people. At the same time, it can support not only countries’ short-term objective of postpandemic economic recovery but also their vision of economic transformation with more inclusive growth. These outcomes are not automatic, however. Mobile internet availability has increased throughout the continent in recent years, but Africa’s uptake gap is the highest in the world. Areas with at least 3G mobile internet service now cover 84 percent of Africa’s population, but only 22 percent uses such services. And the average African business lags in the use of smartphones and computers as well as more sophisticated digital technologies that catalyze further productivity gains. Two issues explain the usage gap: affordability of these new technologies and willingness to use them. For the 40 percent of Africans below the extreme poverty line, mobile data plans alone would cost one-third of their incomes—in addition to the price of access devices, apps, and electricity. Data plans for small- and medium-size businesses are also more expensive than in other regions. Moreover, shortcomings in the quality of internet services—and in the supply of attractive, skills-appropriate apps that promote entrepreneurship and raise earnings—dampen people’s willingness to use them. For those countries already using these technologies, the development payoffs are significant. New empirical studies for this report add to the rapidly growing evidence that mobile internet availability directly raises enterprise productivity, increases jobs, and reduces poverty throughout Africa. To realize these and other benefits more widely, Africa’s countries must implement complementary and mutually reinforcing policies to strengthen both consumers’ ability to pay and willingness to use digital technologies. These interventions must prioritize productive use to generate large numbers of inclusive jobs in a region poised to benefit from a massive, youthful workforce—one projected to become the world’s largest by the end of this century.Publication Unlocking Blue Carbon Development(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2023-09-11)The purpose of this paper is to provide a practical framework to guide governments in catalyzing and scaling up public and private investment in Blue Carbon as part of their blue economy development. It does this by describing in detail a Blue Carbon Readiness Framework, a step-by-step, well-illustrated guide with simple checklists. Client countries can use the illustrations and checklists to determine their readiness to catalyze and scale up investment in blue carbon credit finance. The Blue Carbon Readiness Framework consists of three pillars: 1. Data and Analytics; 2. Policy and Institutions; 3. Finance.Publication Classroom Assessment to Support Foundational Literacy(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-03-21)This document focuses primarily on how classroom assessment activities can measure students’ literacy skills as they progress along a learning trajectory towards reading fluently and with comprehension by the end of primary school grades. The document addresses considerations regarding the design and implementation of early grade reading classroom assessment, provides examples of assessment activities from a variety of countries and contexts, and discusses the importance of incorporating classroom assessment practices into teacher training and professional development opportunities for teachers. The structure of the document is as follows. The first section presents definitions and addresses basic questions on classroom assessment. Section 2 covers the intersection between assessment and early grade reading by discussing how learning assessment can measure early grade reading skills following the reading learning trajectory. Section 3 compares some of the most common early grade literacy assessment tools with respect to the early grade reading skills and developmental phases. Section 4 of the document addresses teacher training considerations in developing, scoring, and using early grade reading assessment. Additional issues in assessing reading skills in the classroom and using assessment results to improve teaching and learning are reviewed in section 5. Throughout the document, country cases are presented to demonstrate how assessment activities can be implemented in the classroom in different contexts.Publication World Development Report 2011(World Bank, 2011)The 2011 World development report looks across disciplines and experiences drawn from around the world to offer some ideas and practical recommendations on how to move beyond conflict and fragility and secure development. The key messages are important for all countries-low, middle, and high income-as well as for regional and global institutions: first, institutional legitimacy is the key to stability. When state institutions do not adequately protect citizens, guard against corruption, or provide access to justice; when markets do not provide job opportunities; or when communities have lost social cohesion-the likelihood of violent conflict increases. Second, investing in citizen security, justice, and jobs is essential to reducing violence. But there are major structural gaps in our collective capabilities to support these areas. Third, confronting this challenge effectively means that institutions need to change. International agencies and partners from other countries must adapt procedures so they can respond with agility and speed, a longer-term perspective, and greater staying power. Fourth, need to adopt a layered approach. Some problems can be addressed at the country level, but others need to be addressed at a regional level, such as developing markets that integrate insecure areas and pooling resources for building capacity Fifth, in adopting these approaches, need to be aware that the global landscape is changing. Regional institutions and middle income countries are playing a larger role. This means should pay more attention to south-south and south-north exchanges, and to the recent transition experiences of middle income countries.Publication World Development Report 2006(Washington, DC, 2005)This year’s Word Development Report (WDR), the twenty-eighth, looks at the role of equity in the development process. It defines equity in terms of two basic principles. The first is equal opportunities: that a person’s chances in life should be determined by his or her talents and efforts, rather than by pre-determined circumstances such as race, gender, social or family background. The second principle is the avoidance of extreme deprivation in outcomes, particularly in health, education and consumption levels. This principle thus includes the objective of poverty reduction. The report’s main message is that, in the long run, the pursuit of equity and the pursuit of economic prosperity are complementary. In addition to detailed chapters exploring these and related issues, the Report contains selected data from the World Development Indicators 2005‹an appendix of economic and social data for over 200 countries. This Report offers practical insights for policymakers, executives, scholars, and all those with an interest in economic development.