By Arkangel Tembo

New York, September 23, Mana: Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs, Simplex Chithyola Banda has disclosed that the African Development Bank (AfDB) has approved more than 50 million US Dollars towards agriculture productivity and commercialization including procurement of relief maize.

The minister disclosed this in New York, where President Chakwera held the 2024 Malawi Partners Conference on the sidelines of the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).

Among other high-level dignitaries at the conference, the Malawi leader, met the AfDB Group, President, Dr Akinwumi Adesina, Mozambican President, Filipe Nyusi and a Tanzanian delegation.

"The support includes 30 million US dollars, 23 million Dollars, and 1 million US Dollars. All these are coming separately with different purposes from the African Development Bank. Further, more support is coming from the same bank.

"On food production, the AfDB is more than ready to support the Malawi Government to embark on a programme of pumping water from Lake Malawi for irrigation," he said.

Chithyola Banda said AfDB interventions will improve Malawi's economy on top of empowering the young people to venture into the agricultural value chain.

He added that the AfDB assistance to Malawi is a clear demonstration of confidence and trust in the current administration.

"institutions like African Development Bank have demonstrated degree of confident and trust in the leadership of Dr. Lazarus Chakwera and the reform programme that Malawi is undertaking in various sectors.

"I have liked some aspects in President Chakwera's speech in which he said Malawi needs to rework in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to re-estimate the GDP based on green economy of how much is the country worth in terms of carbon financing," he said, adding that analysing the GDP will give a true picture of Malawi's economic growth,” he said.

He said going back to the drawing board, Malawi will also work on how natural resources could stimulate the economy.

In 2023, President Chakwera also held another partner conference in New York under the theme; Building Resilience and Sustainable Development in the Face of Shocks.

The Malawi Partners Conference are held on the sidelines of the UNGA in New York, US.

In another interview, Minister of Information and Digitalisation, Moses Kunkuyu said Chakwera's visit is benefiting Malawians.

"When the president travels, he travels with an agenda. The agenda is to represent Malawians and when he represents his people he carries with him the problem that affects his people," Kunkuyu added.