Row with donors settled

Matthew Chikaonda, governor of the Reserve bank has said a row with Western donors that sparked economic turmoil in Malawi last year had been settled, Reuters reported on Wednesday. "We have worked on these donor concerns, leading to a revision of the negative indicators seen in that period. The economy is doing fairly well," Chikaonda told Reuters. He said the kwacha had since stabilised in a range of 42 to 46 against the dollar, where it was expected to remain until the end of the year. He said real gross domestic product (GDP) growth would rise to 3.8 percent in 1999 versus 3.1 percent in 1998. Inflation, which ended 1998 at a worrying 56 percent, was firmly on its way down, and forecast to be 21 percent for 1999. It was 32 percent in the 12 months to October.