Good economic performance helps double Malawi's soft loan funds from the African Development Bank

Lilongwe

The African
Development Bank (AfDB) Group has more than doubled its soft-loan
window funding for Malawi, the Bank Group's President, Donald Kaberuka,
said in Lilongwe, Malawi, on Wednesday.

"Under
our new soft loan lending cycle (2008-10), Malawi will receive a
significant allocation -- more than doubling its level of previous
resources to just under US$ 200 million," Mr. Kaberuka said at the
official opening of the AfDB Malawi Country Office.

He said the decision was based on Malawi's good economic performance.

Mr. Kaberuka said that due to reforms, Malawi had registered unprecedented economic growth and strong macroeconomic performance.

"These
reform efforts are leading to major developments in the delivery of
social services, economic growth and results which visibly impact the
lives of the people," he said.

Mr. Kaberuka
cited Malawi's fertilizer subsidy programme as an example of positive
reform that had helped address the cash constraints facing poor
smallholder farmers, decreased food security and contributed to
economic growth. He urged Malawi's development partners to support the
programme.

He also called on the Malawian
parliament to endorse the AfDB's budget support facility for Malawi,
which had been approved by the Bank's board in 2007.

"At
this time of enormous turbulence and uncertainties in the global
economy and its ramifications on us, it is important that we do not,
either by commission or omission, act in any way that deepens the
crisis.

"For our part, we will continue to be
guided by Malawi's own strategy for growth and development," Mr.
Kaberuka told dignitaries at the ceremony.

Addressing the audience, Malawi Finance Minister, Goodall Gondwe, described the increase in the allocation as "enormous'.

He,
however, urged the AfDB to relax some of its funding regulations to
help ensure that the funding was more readily available to Malawi.

The
AfDB Group currently has nine operations worth US$ 170 million in
Malawi. The operations are mainly in the economic and social sectors,
including rural infrastructure.

The AfDB also provides budgetary support to the Government of Malawi.