The Malawian government has backtracked on its demand that Mozambique authorise merchant shipping to use the Zambezi and Shire rivers to carry goods to and from landlocked Malawi. Last year relations between the two countries cooled when Malawi inaugurated a port at Nsanje on the Shire – but the Mozambican authorities refused to allow barges laden with fertilizer to make the journey to Nsanje up the Shire-Zambezi waterway.

Trade integration is a potentially powerful driver of economic growth in developing countries, particularly if it creates export opportunities and promotes value addition in manufacturing sectors. Given the prominence of agriculture in Sub-Saharan African countries - both as a source of employment and as an earner of foreign exchange - increased market access for agricultural exports is a common interest in these countries’ trade negotiations.

Lilongwe: The Tobacco Association of Malawi (Tama) expects the country's tobacco production to go down by as much as 50 percent of this year's initially projected production as a result of farmer apathy and erratic rains during the early months of the season. While ordinarily that should result into better prices for the leaf, the reduction could also means low foreign currency earnings for the economy should factors of demand and supply fail to work on the market.

Lilongwe: Vendors in Kalonga, the Northern district of Malawi, on Wednesday petitioned the District Commissioner to flush out all Chinese nationals who are doing their businesses in the district. The petition, signed by over 33 representatives of the vendors, says the Chinese investors have gone over bound taking over small-scale business which the natives can ably do.

Lilongwe: Four delegates from Malawi’s Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure Development led by Minister Sidik Mia are in Mozambique to discuss with authorities of the most strategic country in the entire   Nsanje world inland Port which has been unused since it was launched in October 2011. This is the 11th of joint technical meeting on Shire Zambezi waterway project between the countries involved and has been facilitated by the regional trade block, Comesa.

Malawi is one of the world’s poorest countries, ranked 153 out of 169 countries on the United Nations Human Development Index of 2010, with an estimated GNP per capita of US$354. Achievement of the MDGs are uneven, with five of the eight MDGs likely to be met, including those related to eradicating extreme poverty, reducing child mortality, combating HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases, and ensuring environmental sustainability. The proportion of people living below the poverty line is estimated to have decreased from 50 percent in 2004 to 39 percent in 2009. HIV/AIDS adult prevalence rates dropped from 14.4 percent in 2004 to 12 percent in 2007.

The concept of ‘green growth’ implies that a wide range of developmental objectives, such as job creation, economic prosperity and poverty alleviation, can be easily reconciled with environmental sustainability. This study, however, argues that rather than being win-win, green growth is similar to most types of policy reforms that advocate the acceptance of short-term adjustment costs in the expectation of long-term gains. In particular, green growth policies often encourage developing countries to redesign their national strategies in ways that might be inconsistent with natural comparative advantages and past investments.

Lilongwe: Financial economist and investment banker Max Honde discusses with Daily Times's Business Editor Thom Khanje on the prospects of Malawi returning to a programme with the International Monetary Fund:

Lilongwe: Towards the end of November last year, Reserve Bank of Malawi (RBM) Governor Perks Ligoya raided the airwaves of Capital Radio and relayed information that caused a few intestines to roll. He said Malawi would have to effect another devaluation of the local currency to address the foreign exchange shortages prevailing in the country. "Some adjustment to the kwacha could be good," Ligoya told the privately owned radio in an interview.