The Maritime Organisation for Eastern, Southern and Northern Africa (MOESNA) has urged Malawi to strengthen cooperation with regional partners to avoid being sidelined in the global shipping industry, according to Nyasa Times. Speaking in Lilongwe during a stakeholder workshop, MOESNA Secretary General Kassim Mpaata welcomed Malawi's formal accession to the organisation but warned that land-linked countries remain exposed to high transport costs and fragile supply chains. Mpaata noted that African cargo is still dominated by multinational shipping firms, advising collective engagement to improve regional competitiveness.
On the economic front, Malawi's manufacturing sector is projected to grow by 2.5 percent in 2026, driven by an expected recovery in the agriculture industry. According to the 2026 Annual Economic Report from the Ministry of Finance, Economic Planning and Decentralisation, the government is focusing on its Agriculture, Tourism, Mining, and Manufacturing strategy to stimulate the economy. The mining sector is also forecast to expand by 5.9 percent this year as the government prioritises exports of rare earth elements, graphite, and uranium, Nyasa Times reports.
Update: The parliamentary probe into the K128.7 billion Amaryllis Hotel purchase has taken a new turn as official records of the transaction appear to be missing, Nyasa Times reports. Former Public Service Pensions Trust Fund board chairperson James Kumwenda testified before the Public Accounts Committee that trustees unanimously rejected the hotel acquisition during a January 2024 meeting, but the minutes from that meeting have vanished. Meanwhile, the Anti-Corruption Bureau has defended its clearance of the deal, telling lawmakers that while the investment raised significant governance and financial red flags, investigators did not find sufficient evidence to sustain criminal corruption charges.