{"id":66720,"date":"2018-06-12T09:46:36","date_gmt":"2018-06-12T07:46:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.times.mw\/?p=66720"},"modified":"2018-06-12T09:46:36","modified_gmt":"2018-06-12T07:46:36","slug":"malawi-should-address-energy-challenges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/2018\/06\/12\/malawi-should-address-energy-challenges\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Malawi should address energy challenges\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
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ATTENTIVE\u2014High-powered delegation captured during the forum<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Africa Business Group Chief Executive Officer, Michael Sudarkasa, who is in the country as one of the international investors attending the Malawi Investment Forum (MIF) in Lilongwe, has said investment in power supply is critical if the government is to entice serious investors.<\/p>\n

Sudarkasa was speaking on the sidelines of the MIF opening on Monday, graced by President Peter Mutharika, where the government aims to attract over $3 billion worth of investment projects.<\/p>\n

\u201cInvestment in electricity is key [to success] because you really can\u2019t do much in terms of your investment to government without having electricity. I think, after this meeting, implementation of sector investment strategies will be key.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a businessperson, you are always saying how can we maximise returns on investment but I think what Malawi is doing, in terms of taxes, is fair but if we can have special economic zones developed where we have a tax break for a few years that helps and that is encouraging but, long term, I think there are many things in Malawi that you also weigh in, in addition to the tax regimes,\u201d Sudarkasa said.<\/p>\n

Speaking when he launched MIF, Mutharika told delegates that, in Malawi, they see what they choose to see\u2014 be it a poor country or an investment opportunity.<\/p>\n

\u201cMalawi is a rich nation that has poor people; Malawi is a strong, great country. If they see poverty, we see potential riches; if they see challenges, we see opportunities,\u201d Mutharika said.<\/p>\n

He further expressed optimism that the country\u2019s economy would rebound with a 4.1 percent growth this year, as evidenced by macroeconomic stability maintained in the first half of the year.<\/p>\n

However, the World Bank\u2014 in its Global Economic Report for 2018 released in Washington, the United States, on Tuesday\u2014 says it expects the local economy to swell by 3.7 percent this year.<\/p>\n

The climax of the MIF launch was when struggling electricity supplier, Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi, signed a Power Purchase Agreement with an Independent Power Producer that has committed to producing 41 megawatts of hydro-electric power on Bua River in a $210 million investment deal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa Business Group Chief Executive Officer, Michael Sudarkasa, who is in the country as one of the international investors attending the Malawi Investment Forum (MIF) in Lilongwe, has said investment in power supply is critical if the government is to entice serious investors. Sudarkasa was speaking on the sidelines of the MIF opening on Monday, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":66724,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-66720","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66720","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66720"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66720\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":66726,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66720\/revisions\/66726"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/66724"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66720"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66720"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66720"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}