By Kondanani Chilimunthaka
The country’s economy that was put on a sickbed into the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) led administration has now taken its recovery path following the gambling decision by President Lazarus Chakwera and his administration to devalue the local currency by 44 percent to align it with the major exchange rate of USD.
With only a month in office as a Minister of Finance, Simplex Chithyola Banda announced a devaluation of 44 percent which was a total sacrifice for Malawians and did not go down well with many who were already meeting various challenges including fuel scarcity, and shortage of foreign currency reserves (forex).
Little did Malawians know that Chakwera’s leadership is full of wisdom from God, little did Malawians know that the appointment of Chithyola Banda was the beginning of a new journey for the Kwacha from the cross-roads where it stayed for long as contributed by the DPP’ crooked way of managing the local currency against the dollar.
In his statement, President Chakwera said the devaluation was to bring the country’s currency to its real value rather than pretending it had strong value against the USD.
On the other hand, Chithyola Banda said in one of the interviews soon after the Kwacha was devalued saying:”One of the reasons we did the currency rate alignment was in order to bridge the gap that was there between the parallel and official market.”
Since the devaluation of the Kwacha, the country started to experience positive changes highlighting the recovery of the economy which include; No queuing for fuel at all filling stations in the country, availability of forex in the country, the return of International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank, and with many other donor partners trickling down to Malawi to join hands in restoration of the currency, years after suspending their assistance.
Meanwhile, National Advocacy Platform (NAP) has applauded the Minister of Finance for pivotal initiatives including restoration of budget support.
 by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) led administration has now taken its…){kind=link}