Oxfam’s recently released policy brief has said that Malawi’s trade gap is expected to worsen this year as the country intensifies focus on imports of covid-19 related items.

The policy brief follows after Malawi’s trade deficit narrowed by 5.4 percent in 2019 as exports outweighed imports, according to figures in the 2020 Annual Economic Report compiled by the Ministry of Finance.

Oxfam says prior to emergence of Covid-19, Malawi’s merchandise imports exceeded exports by $1.8 billion [about K1.3 trillion] but the pandemic can make this worse by increasing imports of healthcare related products. The brief also outlines that the country’s borders’ restriction of movement of goods and people, except for essential goods such as petroleum, fertilisers and pharmaceuticals, disrupted supply chains and import and export arrangements.

Meanwhile, An e-Comesa newsletter has revealed that Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) which are involved in cross border trade are considering mobilising their products and exporting in bulk to maintain trading amid the Covid-19 pandemic. The initiative will see the traders packaging similar goods from either side of the borders to export as bulk, as the initiative is happening and working for traders in the great lakes region. The newsletter outlines that once the goods arrive, the traders share them out and proceed with trading at their different points of sale. “For this innovation to succeed, a lot of goodwill and trade policy support is required from the respective governments,” reads the newsletter.

According to the World Bank, Malawi had a total export of 883,851.99 in thousands of US$ and total imports of 2,547,041.80 in thousands of US$ leading to a negative trade balance of -1,663,189.81 in thousands of US$The trade growth is -2.34% compared to a world growth of 5.68%. GDP of Malawi is 7,064,971,176.30 in current US$.