Malawi Kwacha stabilising: To trade at K620/US$
The Reserve Bank of Malawi has confirmed that the country’s local currency, Kwacha which has been in free fall in recent months, was stabilizing against the US dollar with the Central Bank dealing rate closing at 3675 units Saturday while in some bureaux de change adjustments were being done while customers transacted.
The central bank said the local unit has appreciated against the dollar, British pound and South Africa rand as well as the euro.
The fragile stability of the kwacha forced some authorised dealer banks (ADBs) to alter downwards the rate at which they have been buying the kwacha from customers.
Foreign exchange rates in some authorised dealer banks show that the kwacha is trading between K710 and K719 to a dollar.
At FMB Kwacha is at K719.72 to a dollar, at Inde Bank it is K719.72 while at Golden Forex Bureau the rates are a Kwacha at K710 to a dollar.
The central bank has not provided an explanation behind the gain in the value of the kwacha.
Mbane Ngwira, the Reserve Bank spokesperson, said the Kwacha has been “stabilizing and appreciating”, saying it is expected the local currency will remain strong.
Economics professor at Chancellor College, Ben Kaluwa, told a local press that the Kwacha may trade as low as K620 or thereabout by next month to the greenback owing to various forces on the market.
He said Kwacha will strengthen with earnings from export commodities such as tobacco, the country’s main foreign-currency earner and low demand of the dollar after private traders and government imported farm inputs.
Chikavu Nyirenda, an economics lecturer at Catholic University, said the appreciation of the local currency was good for the national economy as it could result in stable prices and ease the inflation rate.
Malawi’s inflation rate stood at 24 percent, according to Malawi’s National Statistical Office.
Finance Minister Goodall Gondwe recently told parliament that the Kwacha exchange rate seems to have reached “the point of equilibrium” and that the local currency should start gaining stability.
In economics, equilibrium is a state in which forces such as supply and demand are balanced, and in the absence of external influences, the value of economic variables.
“The Malawi economy will be back on track,” confident Gondwe has said.
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Mr Minister, do you really call MK620 to us1$ stabilizing or you are teasing Malawians? As the Minister,are you proud of your weak performance? Please redouble your efforts,people are suffering jokes aside.
theme of the story: kufuna kuwabela alimi afodya.
they just want to steal from us, these guys are clever come September and see how kwacha behave. awona fodya wayandikila eti!
JB once said man is a very difficult animal. She narrated the story about a man and a horse. When the man was walking together with the horse, people found faults with him. When he rode on the horse, people found faults with him. When he carried the horse on his back, people found faults with him. This is what Malawians are doing. When the kwacha depreciates, people want Goodal’s head. When the kwacha appreciates, people want Goodal’s head. One wonders what then do Malawians want? A hopeless nation indeed!
The best way let farmers be paid in USA dollars and be given USA Dollars hard cash. Keep it and exchange it between November and February next year.
A farmer has endured all these months with the free falling Kwacha. Now you say Kwacha is appreaciating. What is causing Kwacha to appreaciate.
Thom osangoyamikira zili zonse. Think of a farmer who along the time was using his money on high prices of farm inputs. Today popeza akufuna kuyamba kugulitsa fodya amvekere ndalama yakwera. Zopusa izi popeza alomwe salima fodya you want to kill central region economically agalu inu
What is the view of Tobacco Association of Malawi (TAMA) on this, that is if at all it exists.
hahahaha this govt is a thief. you are deliberately appreciating the value of kwacha coz you want to milk tobacco farmers out. soon after stealing the hard earned money then you devaluate again. God will punish APM and his friend
I smell a serious conspiracy against a local tobacco farmers. I pray that my colleagues especially in the border districts will be smuggling their valuable commodity. By the way, Mr Zawadi Chilunga, the writer of this article, what type of Economics have you written here. I guess you read a bad book.
Kumanena zooona azungu abwera ndi ndalama zawo afuna amugule mulimi was fodya at a lower price.aku reserve bank machende anu osanena zoona bwanji.imatani kukhazikika mu January.