President Dr Lazarus Chakwera says his administration will continue providing necessary social services aimed at improving the living conditions of Malawians despite the continued harsh economic outlook.
Dr Chakwera made the remarks at the Parliament Building in Lilongwe when he delivered the State of the Nation Address (SONA) on Friday during the opening of the 50th session of Parliament.
Delivering the SONA the Malawi leader first admitted that the economy is still sailing in rough waters just as the situation is in many countries in the region. He cited debt, adverse weather conditions, and climatic shocks such as cyclones as among the contributing factors.
He further said even advanced economies are expected to register a growth decline from 2.7 percent to 1.2 percent. However, Dr Chakwera said his administration is implementing several measures to ensure economically there’s sustainable economic growth.
On food security, Dr Chakwera told Parliament that government is already on the ground providing relief food and cash transfers citing districts such as Thyolo, Chiradzulu, Machinga, Mangochi and Mzimba among many.
While on mining, which is deemed by economic experts as vital for the economy…Dr Chakwera said the government continues to support the National Mining Company and continues empowering the Reserve Bank of Malawi as the structured market for gold.
Dr Chakwera said the most notable achievement in the health sector is the reduction of new HIV infections from 33000 to 11,000.
While in education, he said the government has done much including the construction of three Teacher Training Colleges of Chikwawa, Rumphi and Mchinji besides recruiting over 2 thousand teachers under the Secondary Education Expansion project, 30 community day sec schools have been completed.
The President has also said that his administration has managed to establish an asset forfeiture unit through which the government has traced and preserved illicit assets worth 1.4 billion connected to 25 individuals who are answering cases of fraud and money laundering.
Reported by Isaac Jali, MBC Online Services.
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