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Abstract:
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The current extent of the structural trade deficit means that Malawi’s National Export Strategy (NES) is not just about exports in the most direct form. Crucially, it is also about how Malawi can build the productive base of its economy and therefore is a critical complement to the Economic Recovery Plan of 2012. For exports to grow to a level that balances imports and consumption, it is critical that this base be developed. Therefore the development of Malawi’s productive base is central to Malawi’s development agenda as set out in the MGDS II. The component of the MGDS II that the National Export Strategy provides is a road map for how Malawi can build its productive base in a manner that will drive export growth on a sufficient scale to maintain the level of imports. The NES is also central to accomplishing Malawi’s desired move into the export of high value goods and services and to reducing Malawi’s reliance on the export of raw or semi-raw commodities. These have left Malawi’s poor and vulnerable exposed to commodity price fluctuations, crop failures, aid shocks and climate change. The development of the productive base is also fundamental for the economic empowerment of youths, women, smallholder farmers, job seekers and the poor. Malawi’s demographics, characterised by a youth bulge, also require the development of a healthy and expanded productive base, capable of absorbing youths to drive rather than hinder Malawi’s development agenda. Malawi, therefore, urgently needs to develop its productive base to:
a) Drive Malawi’s export capacity on a scale that exports can maintain the pace of imports.
b) Economically empower youths, women, small-holder farmers, job seekers, micro and small businesses and the poor through ensuring that they are included in the productive base.
By setting out a way forward that addresses this dual concern, the NES serves as a critical component of the MGDS II. This strategy provides a prioritised road map for developing Malawi’s productive base to allow for both export competitiveness and economic empowerment. |