Economic experts warn of worsening poverty

Malawian economic experts on Monday warned of increased poverty in their donor-dependent country as they prepared to ask donors for US $1 billion in debt relief, AFP reported. The economists were drafting a paper on poverty reduction to be submitted to donors in December in the hope that the plan would make Malawi eligible for US $1 billion in debt relief, the report said.

"Malawians living below the poverty line have increased from 60 percent before 1997 to 65.3 percent," George Zimalirana, a leading economist at the National Economic Council (NEC), was quoted as saying. He blamed the country's deteriorating economy on technocrats and politicians who failed to implement the government's development and economic policies.

He said Malawi, with its limited resources, needed to prioritise activities that would spur economic growth and reduce poverty. The country's agriculturally dependent economy has grown by two percent per annum over the last decade, according to the report. It said that the World Bank, Malawi's main financial backer, estimated that the economy needed to grow by a minimum of six percent a year to reduce poverty and to create employment.

Malawi was ranked 163 out of the world's 173 poorest nations by UNDP, the report said. President Bakili Muluzi won the country's first multi-party elections in 1994 on a wave of popular support, sparked in part by his pledge to reduce poverty.