MALAWI: Cost of Living Report & more – 8th April 2025

Muli bwanji from Keswick Village! This is the Rorshok Malawi Update from the 8th of April twenty twenty-five. A quick summary of what's going down in Malawi.

The February twenty twenty-five Cost of Living Report by the Center for Social Concern said that Blantyre in the Southern Region is the most expensive city in Malawi. They said residents need to have around 916 thousand Kwacha per month, which is about 530 dollars, to provide the most basic needs for a family of six. The cheapest urban center was Karonga in the Northern Region, with a cost of living of about 590 thousand Kwacha which is 340 dollars.

The report, which monitored prices of essential commodities across Malawi’s urban centers, also revealed that the cost of living nationwide rose by fifteen percent from 695 thousand Kwacha, which is 400 dollars, in January, to 800 thousand kwacha, which is 460 dollars, in February. Some of the factors leading to the high living expenses include charcoal, which is used for cooking, followed by housing and food items.

The US imposed a seventeen percent tariff on Malawi as part of the new tariffs on countries worldwide.

The US hopes to help fix its trade imbalances and promote fair trade practices. For instance, they want to protect their manufacturing industry, especially in sectors such as technology products, vehicles and pharmaceuticals.

When local media asked the Ministry of Trade and Industry what its next move would be, Patrick Botha, the Trade Ministry’s Spokesperson, said they are yet to take any action. Botha said they had seen the US’ decision on social media, and they are waiting for official communication from them. However, local experts warned against wasting time and urged the government to start dealing with the issue immediately.

In updates on the finance sector, on Friday the 4th, the Reserve Bank opened the country’s first foreign stock exchange called the Xidian Stock Exchange.

Local news reported that delegates at the launch said that the exchange would help boost local economic growth: a huge contributing factor for achieving Malawi’s twenty sixty-three vision, which aims to turn the country into a self-reliant nation.

While the Reserve Bank was launching Xidian, the Parliament passed the Financial Crimes Amendment Bill, which seeks to align the country’s laws with the Financial Action Task Force’s 40 Recommendations.

The 40 Recommendations provide a comprehensive framework for combating terrorist financing, money laundering, and the financing of proliferation.

Malawi has been working to strengthen its systems to stop financial crimes, including passing the Financial Crimes Bill.

Recall that Malawi is a member of the Eastern and Southern Africa Anti-Money Laundering Group, which is one of the Financial Action Task Force-Style Regional Bodies that promote the implementation of the Force’s Recommendations.

Still on finance, the Exchange Control Act, which was made into law in nineteen eighty-four, might be repealed and replaced by the Foreign Exchange Bill of twenty twenty-five, which was passed in Parliament on Monday the 7th.

The Foreign Exchange Bill introduces new forex measures. For instance, it says that a person who is not an authorized dealer cannot buy or borrow any foreign currency from another person; they can only do that at the bank or an authorized dealer, like an official forex office. It also says a person cannot sell or lend foreign currency to a person other than the bank or an authorized dealer.

The Parliament also passed the Prisons Act Bill, repealing the Prisons Act, which had been in operation since nineteen fifty-six. The old Act was discarded because it was formed during the colonial period and didn't adjust to current international standards. It also made it hard to implement laws that protected the rights of prisoners

While presenting the Bill in Parliament on Thursday the 4th, Ezekiel Peter Ching’oma, the Minister of Homeland Security, said the new bill centers a human rights approach, and ensures that local prisons align with international standards and treaties. The bill also includes provisions for the establishment of Halfway houses, which provide a supportive environment for ex-offenders to transition back into their communities.

Stakeholders in the criminal justice system are optimistic that the new bill will bring much-needed reforms to Malawi’s prison system.

Some political alliances are starting to pop out as the September presidential elections get closer.

On Saturday the 5th, local news said that the opposition parties, the United Transformation Movement (or UTM), the United Democratic Front (or UDF) and the Alliance for Democracy, are currently in talks to form an alliance. According to the news, the talks are at an advanced stage.

Felix Njawala, the Spokesperson for UTM, and Labana Chilungo, the Publicist for UDF, said they will be sharing the contents of their agreement with the public very soon. They also hinted at meeting another opposition party, the Democratic Progressive Party, the former ruling party, for a possible pact.

The Kamuzu University of Health Sciences (or Kuhes) is planning on introducing the Bachelor of Herbal Medicine program at its institution to improve traditional knowledge of health practices.

MacPherson Mallewa, the Kuhes Vice Chancellor, told local media that, by incorporating herbal medicine into their academic framework, they will give their students a comprehensive education that harmonizes the best elements of both traditional and contemporary medicine.

To pave the way for the new program, Kuhes partnered with the National Herbarium and Botanic Gardens of Malawi and planted herbal trees at its Kameza Campus in Blantyre.

In the meantime, nurses now have the chance to work in Israel, thanks to the newly-signed Nurse Export Deal with the Israeli government, which will help ease the high unemployment rate in Malawi’s medical field.

After the signing ceremony held on Monday the 7th, Sharren Haskel, the Israeli Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, told local news that the new agreement provides a framework for the Government-to-Government deal for labor exportation. Recall that, in our previous episodes, we mentioned that Malawi has another labor export deal with Israel for farmers.

When asked how many nurses would benefit from this new deal, the Ministry of Health couldn’t give an exact number. They just said that a group of nurses would work in Israel for a specified period and then return home.

In other news, the government revived some of its old buildings.

On Thursday the 3rd, the Judiciary reopened the Mombezi Magistrate Court in Chiradzulu District in the Southern Region. The court was closed in twenty fifteen because it was uninhabitable and dilapidated.

During the reopening, Chief Justice Rezine Mzikamanda, said the Judiciary is committed to taking justice to hard-to-reach areas to ensure marginalized communities have access to justice. He said this commitment is what led to the rehabilitation and reopening of non-functional magistrate courts across the country.

Local news said that in Chiradzulu District, only five out of ten courts are functional, and they serve a population of almost 400 thousand people. This has led to huge delays in cases being sorted out.

The Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation (or ADMARC) received agricultural produce by train. The last time that this happened was in nineteen ninety-three.

According to a local news story published on Monday the 7th, the country’s railway infrastructure was largely sidelined after Malawi transitioned to multi-party democracy in nineteen ninety-three. Road transport became the preferred method for transferring agricultural produce.

The article said it would have taken thirty-three trucks and over sixty-seven million Kwacha, which is about thirty-nine thousand dollars, to move the produce on road transport, but this time, it only took one cargo train and thirty-five million Kwacha which is twenty thousand dollars.

ADMARC’s use of the railway line follows rail maintenance work that the government has been carrying out since twenty twenty-one.

And to close this edition, some companies located in the Lingadzi House office complex in Lilongwe’s City Center in the Central Region had tough luck on Thursday the 3rd after a fierce fire gutted the building.

Some people who work in the building were shocked to see flames and thick smoke coming out of the building after their lunch break. Some were seen running out of the building with some items and documents, but local news doubted that they saved much. Authorities have yet to share the extent of the damage or what caused the fire.

Lingadzi House is home to several companies, including the offices for the National Commission for Science and Technology, the Environmental Affairs Department, and the Crime Department for the United Nations Development Program.

Aaand that’s it for this week! Thank you for joining us!

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Pitani bwino!