Goodall Would Not Meet With IMF Delegation, But Could Play Advisory Role To Finance Minister

MALAWI: Former Finance Minister Goodall Gondwe has stated that he will not be part of the delegation meeting with the International Monetary Fund-IMF team, which is expected to arrive in the country soon.

Gondwe has since stated that he has not received any communication from the government regarding the government's intention to include him on the Malawi team that will meet with the IMF delegation.

This follows reports on social media Thursday morning that President Lazarus Chakwera had invited Gondwe to join the IMF's local Finance and Economic Planning team for a new Extended Credit Facility-ECF facility.

The former Finance Minister told this publication that if he were invited, he would review the policies put in place by the government for the ECF programme.

“I am a Malawian first, and I wish my country well, but if I were invited, I would not participate in the discussions. I can only look at the policy framework and if it’s sensible, then I can advise, not to the President but the Minister of Finance on what to do,” he said.

Gondwe stated that he is aware of what the IMF will be looking for when they visit Malawi and that he can advise the Minister on how to prepare for such meetings.

‘I worked in the IMF for 23 years and I know what they want from us. In the end, we will solve the problems that Malawi is facing,’ Gondwe said.

“There is no problem that has no solution, but first we have to be disciplined as a government. It’s no use saying the country is running short of forex and yet you go ahead and orders a huge number of brand new TX vehicles for government officials. Let’s, first of all, identify our problems and find solutions because the solutions will be found locally,” said the former finance minister.

According to the former finance minister, the government needs to do a lot of things to regain public trust and get the economy back on track.

President Lazarus Chakwera told the nation earlier this week that he was looking forward to the IMF visiting Malawi next week to make progress on a new ECF programme.

Following the departure of the Democratic Progressive Party-DPP government in 2020, the IMF suspended the Malawi ECF programme due to allegations of misreporting and toxic local borrowing.