The National Planning Commission (NPC) Director General Thomas Munthali has described the first year of implementing the national development blueprint, Malawi 2063, as a success despite challenges caused by resurgence of the Covid pandemic in 2021.
In an interview Munthali said popularisation and adoption of the plan by various stakeholders including government ministries, department s and agencies, political leaders and Parliament and development partners was a good start.
“We launched the 10-year implementation plan in November; in earnest, it’s going to be implemented through the 2022- 23 National Budget.
What will be key is that the Ministry of Finance should be picking a lot from the 10-year strategy on the planned priorities because they have been given timelines in there.
“…so 2021 was a planning year but, moving forward in 2022 and beyond, we should be looking at the actual implementation and this year we will be fully engaging cooperating partners in ensuring that their country assistance strategies including those that non-governmental organisations are working on, are really talking to priorities of the MIP1 and the social economic recovery plan,” Munthali said.
Executive Director of the Economics Association of Malawi Frank Chikuta said the first year of implement a t ion coincided with one of the most devastating health and economic crises of recent times, which was a major setback.
“The effects of the Covid pandemic are unprecedented. I am of the view that, as the effects of the pandemic subside, the Malawi 2063 will be implemented effectively.
Unlike in the past, this time we have the National Planning Commission which was established through an Act of Parliament to coordinate the development and implement a t ion of national development plans,” Chikuta said.
The Malawi 2063 vision replaces Vision 2020, which expired in December 2020. The Malawi 2063 aims to transform Malawi into a wealthy and self-reliant industrialised “upper middle-income country” by the year 2063.
