BLANTYRE (Reuters) – Malawi’s economy is projected to grow around 4% annually over the next two years, the new finance minister said on Friday, adding that the budget deficit for the 2022/23 fiscal year had fallen to 7.7% of GDP.
That compared with a deficit of 8.3% in the previous fiscal year. Finance Minister Sosten Gwengwe projected GDP growth for 2022 and 2033 at 4.1% and 4%, respectively.
Malawi’s economy has recovered since being hit by the twin knocks of the COVID-19 pandemic and extreme weather triggered by a 2019 tropical cyclone.
Its main cash crop – accounting for half of foreign currency earnings and roughly 15% of GDP – is tobacco.
(Reporting by Frank Phiri; Writing by Tim Cocks; Editing by Mark Heinrich and Barbara Lewis)
