OTHER POLICIES

Trade Remedies Law and Anti-Counterfeit Law

Malawi is currently developing a draft Trade Remedies Law which combines safeguards, anti-dumping and countervailing measures. The objective of the Law is to safeguard and protect the domestic private sector against import surges and unfair trade practices abroad. The Ministry is also leading efforts to develop a Anti-Counterfeit Law in order to protect both consumers and intellectual property rights.

EU Sugar Reforms

In June 2005, the European Commission announced a restructuring of the EU sugar regime which is likely to have far-reaching effects on Malawi. The reforms will lead to a 36 percent reduction in the price paid for sugar imported under quota from ACP countries including Malawi. Currently Malawi exports some 40,000 tonnes of sugar to the EU under three different quotas at preferential prices of around four times world prices. In the short to medium term the price cut will lead to reduced revenue earned on Malawi's sugar exports to the EU, however from 2009/10 Malawi will receive unrestricted access to the EU sugar market once sugar is included in the "Everything but Arms" initiative and therefore will no longer be constrained by quotas. Click here to download the Malawi sugar impact study. 
 

Competition Policy and Law

Government embarked on liberalisation of its trade regime in the early 1980s and in 1998 a Competition and Fair Trading Act was written in to law. The main objectives of the Act are to encourage competition in the economy by prohibiting anti-competitive trade practices; to establish the Competition and Fair Trading Commission, to regulate and monitor monopolies and concentrations of economic power; to protect consumer welfare; to strengthen the efficiency of production and distribution of goods and services; to secure the best possible conditions for the freedom of trade; to facilitate the expansion of the base of entrepreneurship.

After a number of delays, the Competition Commission was formally established during the year under review. Commissioners have been appointed and the Ministry of Trade and Private Sector Development is acting as interim secretariat until full-time staff are appointed to provide support services. Training of judges on competition law took place and the Commission began to hear its first cases during 2005. Click here to download the Competition Policy for Malawi.

Microfinance

The Ministry of Industry, Trade and Private Sector Development is the custodian of Malawi's Microfinance Policy and as such is currently working on a number of Microfinance initiatives including coordinating a review of the legal and regulatory framework for Microfinance.

The Ministry in collaboration with the Malawi Microfinance Network also recently conducted a survey of microfinance institutions, which was aimed at determining the growth of the microfinance sector. The survey revealed that the sector had grown by more than 20 per cent, with 2000 as the base year. With this growth, the sector had attained the completion point requirement under the Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) programme.

The United Nations General Assembly announced that 2005 had been declared the International Year of Micro-credit and requested member countries to commemorate the year. In Malawi the event was commemorated through a National Microfinance conference, which was held in the month of November 2005. The conference attracted 118 top-level decision makers from all sectors of the economy. Discussion focused no building an inclusive financial sector. The conference had four themes that directly affect the development of the country and economic advancement of its citizens through Microfinance. The themes were: microfinance best practices; the regulatory and supervisory framework; rural and agricultural finance and; and new markets in Malawi's microfinance sector. Click here to download the Microfinance Policy and Action Plan for Malawi.

Small and Medium-sized Enterprises

In an under-developed and predominantly economy such as Malawi, SMEs play an important role in providing non-farm employment as a means of poverty reduction. Hence, the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Private Sector Development has the mandate from Government to provide support services to facilitate the establishment and growth of SMEs.

During 2005-2006, the Ministry continued with its efforts of developing, promoting and creating a conducive environment for the development of the Micro, Small and Medium Sized Enterprise sector. The Ministry, through service providers implemented two separate training programmes in agro-processing involving beekeeping and mushroom production as income generating activities for 200 small scale producers in Mzimba and Mchinji. Another 200 small-scale women entrepreneurs were trained in mushroom production in Mangochi and Mzuzu. Click here to download the SME Policy for Malawi.

Cooperatives

The cooperative movement is one of the principal institutional arrangements which is used to encourage economic and social development in rural areas and among disadvantaged groups. By forming cooperatives, small-scale producers are able to gain the critical mass necessary to access credit and essential business development services, and to reach markets where a minimum efficient scale of production is required.

In line with its mandate of promoting and registering cooperative societies in Malawi, the Ministry registered 22 new cooperatives societies in the year 2005. The majority of these cooperative societies were agro based and are located throughout the country. This brings the total number of cooperative societies registered in Malawi to 215. Out of these, 75 are Savings and Credit Cooperative Societies (SACCOs). Click here to download the Cooperation Development Policy.