Malawi to receive US$80m IMF funds as economic cushion

31 Jul 2009

Malawi's resident representative for the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Maitland Macfarlan announced last week that Malawi will benefit from the body's rescue plan, to help countries fend off the world economic crisis.

Malawi which benefits from IMF's Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) will receive US$80m expected to help it reduce its foreign currency shortages which has reached an alarming rate.

“This amount will be included in Malawi's gross reserves, [as well as] increase by about 0.5 months of [its] import coverage,” he said.

Malawi's foreign currency reserves have ‘dangerously' been between 1.5 months to 2 months of import cover below the international standard of at least 3 months of import cover.

Although the IMF executive board already approved the programme it is still expected to discuss and endorse the package, early August so that countries like Malawi could start accessing the funds by the end of the same months according to an IMF statement.

The rescue programme was endorsed in April this year by a G-20 summit of industrialised nations in London before it was endorsed by IMF Financial Committee.

Gregory Gondwe

About Gregory Gondwe

Gregory Gondwe is a Malawian journalist who started writing in 1993. He is also a media consultant assisting several international journalists pursuing assignments in Malawi. He holds a Diploma and an Intermediate Certificate in Journalism among other media-related certificates. He can be contacted on moc.liamg@ewdnogyrogerg. Follow him on Twitter at @Kalipochi.