Malawi's Finance Minister has moved to calm growing fears that the country is being deserted by its foreign backers, insisting cash is still flowing in -- even as one of its oldest allies quietly heads for the exit.
Joseph Mwanamvekha delivered his upbeat message in Lilongwe on Saturday at the launch of a Catholic Church endowment fund, batting away suggestions that Malawi's development lifeline is drying up.
"Some partners are reducing support, but others are increasing it," he insisted, name-checking the World Bank and African Development Bank as new saviours waiting in the wings. "Donors are not withdrawing; they are reallocating their investments. Malawi will continue receiving support, and even more than before."
But his rosy picture comes just as Britain -- long one of Malawi's most reliable donors -- prepares to slash its aid by a brutal 60 per cent in the coming financial year, with cuts set to balloon to a devastating 90 per cent by 2028/29.
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Scrambling to fill the gap, Mwanamvekha pointed to more than $900 million already secured from the United States under its America First Global Health Strategy, plus promised -- but unspecified -- sums from the World Bank and African Development Bank.
Tellingly, the minister couldn't say how much money was coming, when it might arrive, or whether it would come anywhere close to plugging the hole left by departing bilateral donors.
The reassurances land at an awkward moment for Malawi, a nation already buckling under crippling forex shortages, runaway inflation, ballooning debt and fiscal pressures that experts say are directly tied to its addiction to foreign handouts.
Even the event's own host seemed to undercut the minister's optimism. Tiyende Limodzi Endowment Fund chairman Phillip Madinga -- who doubles as chief executive of Standard Bank Malawi -- delivered a blunt verdict of his own.
"Recent reductions in donor funding show it is time for Malawi to become more self-reliant and develop home-grown solutions," he said, in remarks that read as a thinly veiled rebuke of the country's donor dependency.
Mwanamvekha promised more detail would come in his upcoming Mid-Year Budget Review Statement, including savings squeezed out through austerity.
The minister was speaking at the launch of the Catholic Archdiocese of Lilongwe's Tiyende Limodzi Endowment Fund, an ambitious bid to raise K10 billion to bankroll education, healthcare and community projects through investment income rather than handouts.
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The glitzy fundraising gala pulled in K118 million in cash and pledges, on top of K43 million raised at an earlier Mass. President Peter Mutharika chipped in K25 million, while Mwanamvekha himself gave K15 million.
With the government clinging to its message that donor confidence remains rock solid, all eyes now turn to whether the promised millions from the World Bank and African Development Bank actually show up -- and fast enough to soften the blow as traditional donors head for the door.
