Sectoral growth in Malawi:
Agriculture:
The economy of Malawi is mostly agro-based in nature. About 90% of the population in Malawi earns their livelihood through cultivation of different types of food and cash crops. The problem with this sector is that it is frequently affected by severe droughts, leading to decline in its productivity and bringing down the GDP. The droughts of 1979–81,1992 and 1994 had direct impact of the productivities, which reduced to 4.5% between 1989-1991. As a result, the Malawi GDP came down by 7.9%. The average annual growth in this sector was 3.7% in 1988-1998. This growth rate fell down to1.7% in 2001. However, the agro-based activities in Malawi account for 34.2% to the GDP. Farming in Malawi is done both on domestic and commercial levels.Industry:
The industrial sector of Malawi is dominated by diverse types of activities, chief among which are exploitation of the country’s mineral resources. In fact, the blossoming of this sector was given the highest priority in the post-independence era. Today, the nation is more or less able to fulfill the domestic demand for commodities like edible oils, footwear, cotton textiles, hoes, canned foods, sugar, soaps, radios, and beer, which earlier had to be imported. Occasional mining of the country’s mineral reserves like bauxite, coal and uranium provides employment to some people. Fishing and forestry also offers substantial support to the national economy. The manufacturing units of Malawi produce basic products like:- Lumber
- Processed beverages
- Sawmill products
- Small consumer goods
- Building and construction materials
- Sugar
- Cement
- Tobacco
- Tea
Services:
The Malawi service sector accounted for 49.9% to the GDP in 2005.Foreign trade:
With respect to the international trade in Malawi, the country’s export market is dominated by tobacco, which accounts for 2/3 of the foreign exchange income of the nation. Cotton and sugar are other major export items in Malawi followed by tea, peanuts, coffee and wood products, which earn $364 million.As far as the Malawi imports are concerned, the important commodities are pharmaceuticals, fertilizers, consumer items, petroleum, diesel and other fuels, transport tools, foodstuffs and machinery, worth $645 million in 2005.
To improve the financial conditions of 55% of the total population in the country, who lived under poverty line in 2004, Malawi still requires foreign funds from global organizations like the International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank and other nations across the world. In fact, with financial assistances from IMF, the country has introduced developmental programs in the agricultural sector to enhance its productivities. These Malawi facts are enough informative to guide people about the economic conditions of the country.
