WEF_GrowAfrica_AnnualReport2014

2013 in Review 2013 in Review
LETTERS OF INTENT
The Year in Numbers
2013 action for transformation
26 Companies have
Letters of Intent (LoIs)
IMPLEMENTATION PROGRESS REPORTED
0% Complete
44% Performing well
22% On plan
18 of 26 companies provided data.
$31 million of investments made in 2013
$25 million of capital expenditure.
$6 million of operating expenditure.
9 of 26 companies provided data.
OUTCOMES REPORTED FOR 2013
2,750 jobs created:
17% Minor problems
6% Major problems
11% Cancelled
Planned investment
estimated at $177 million
19 of 26 companies provided data.
156,000 smallholders reached:
Leadership and alignment
•¡
President Joyce Banda attended 2013
Grow Africa Investment Forum and led
Malawi delegation to London meeting in
July 2013.
•¡
A high-level taskforce jointly chaired by
relevant ministers and heads of donor
agencies is up and running, though lacking
sufficient representation of key government
officials to drive implementation.
•¡
2013 saw a ministerial reshuffle and
government attention diverted away from
progressing agricultural priorities to deal
with huge currency devaluation and inflation,
“cashgate”, and 2014 election preparations.
Strategy setting
•¡
Agriculture Sector Wide Approach (ASWAp)
is in place and focuses on agricultureled
growth, supporting CAADP pillars
and implementing Malawi’s Growth &
Development Strategy.
•¡
Although ASWAp and the NES highlight the
importance of private-sector investment,
they struggle to attract the comprehensive
participation and collaboration from all
ministries and stakeholders required to
ensure their effectiveness.
•¡
Economic Recovery Plan unveiled in July
2012 promotes investment and policy
reform in key sectors but has recently
stalled in the run-up to May 2014 national
elections.
Investment pipeline
Risk mitigation and financing
•¡
Government legislation enacted to ease
access to finance.
•¡
Donor initiatives include: USAID $4
million partial loan guarantee for funding
warehouse receipts and agri-SMEs; UNDP
co-financing for innovation challenge fund
in support of NES priority clusters; and
long-term foreign currency-denominated
lending for small and medium-sized
(primarily agricultural) export investments
from the European Investment Bank in
partnership with a local commercial bank.
•¡
Interest rates nevertheless remain
prohibitively high and LoI companies
perceive these ostensibly “top-down”
initiatives as not responding to their
financial needs.
Infrastructure and policy
•¡
Various policy reforms introduced, including
removal of export bans on all crops except
maize and on-going review to bring Seed
Act in line with regional seed-variety release
procedures and trade.
•¡
Key policy challenges impacting
private-sector agri-investment still need
addressing, including the contentious Land
Bill and the National Agricultural policy.
•¡
Physical infrastructure works (rural road
networks and market and storage facilities)
are required to improve access to markets.
High cost of electricity and transport are
also continuing concerns.
24% 76%
5 of 26 companies provided data, of which
60% was gender disaggregated.
19% 81%
62,000 with services
22,700 with sourcing
21,000 with production contracts
36,000 with training
75,750 unspecified
8 of 26 companies provided data, of which
38% was gender disaggregated.
•¡
7 bankable investment opportunities for
value-chain partnerships have been profiled
and are consistent with priority clusters
identified in the NES.
•¡
A number of Letter of Intent (LoI) companies
have started strategic discussions which could
result in partnerships across value chains.
•¡
The Malawi Investment and Trade Centre
(MITC) is in place as the ‘one-stop shop’
for investors, but needs sufficient capacity
and authority to effectively facilitate
investments.
Delivery and implementation
•¡
Limited coordination between the
various GoM departments responsible
for facilitating investments (Ministries of
Agriculture, Trade, Lands, Water, Finance
and Roads), while the effectiveness of
sector working groups established in
agriculture and trade to coordinate and
monitor implementation progress remains
constrained.
•¡
Delivery mechanisms such as the MITC are
not adequately resourced and empowered.
98
Malawi
Malawi
99