MALAWI – LILONGWE – Fuel shortages in Malawi have occurred because the country is running out of foreign currency, partly because the Malawian government lent Zimbabwe 100 million US dollars which has yet to be repaid, according to a report in Wednesday’s issue of the Malawian online paper, the “Nyasa Times”.
The Malawian authorities have tried to blame Mozambique for the country’s fuel woes, claiming that fuel has been held up because of congestion in the ports of Nacala and Beira. This claim was strongly denied on Monday by managers of both ports.
Fernando Couto, Chief Executive Officer of the Northern Development Corridor (CDN), which runs the Nacala port and rail system, said that Malawi had simply run out of foreign exchange and had even asked to borrow fuel.
The “Nyasa Times” accuses the government of Malawian President Bingu wa Mutharika of “extravagant use” of foreign currency. It cites in particular the June 2007 loan of 100 million dollars, via the Reserve Bank of Malawi, to Zimbabwe.
That money was supposed to enable the Zimbabwean government to buy maize in Malawi, according to a report from the Reserve Bank itself. The money is due to be repaid by 31 December this year.
The paper also accuses the Mutharika government of buying a presidential jet for 15.9 million dollars, and a fleet of 22 Mercedes Benz cars for a further three million.
The paper rejects the suggestion that foreign exchange bureaus have anything to do with the crisis, as “simply an attempt to divert attention from the real cause of the forex shortage: the government’s own extravagance, and its refusal to own up to this wastefulness”.
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