Action on governance and human rights helps Malawi to secure €8.5 million from German Government

STATE HOUSE

PRESS RELEASE

4^TH DECEMBER 2012

Her Excellency the President Mrs Joyce Banda has welcomed the decision of the German government to release a total of €8.5 million (K3.65 billion)--€5 million of budget support that had previously been held back from Malawi and a further €3.5 million of funding from the Local Development Fund.

Announcing the decision in a letter to the President the German Parliamentary State Secretary to the Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development, Gudrun Kopp praised the President’s “courage and your determination to return Malawi to a positive democratic and economic development trajectory.”

Ms Kopp, who previously visited Malawi and met Her Excellency in August of this year went on to say that “as a result of the impressive progress that has been made in Malawi, the German government has decided to release, before the end of this year, an amount of 5.0 million euros from the budget support funds that had been held back.”

In particular Ms Kopp pointed to progress on human rights and good governance which are two of the fundamental prerequisites and principles of cooperation between the two countries. The Parliamentary Secretary of State cited progress such as the appointment of new director for Anti-corruption Bureau and the introduction of reforms to strengthen the independence of the National Audit Office.

In addition Germany will be releasing further funds amounting to 3.5 million euros from the Local Development Fund (LDF) now that important steps have been taken towards preparing for the local elections in 2014.

Commenting on the German Government’s decision, Her Excellency the President, Mrs Joyce Banda said:

“My job is to steer Malawi back on the course to economic recovery so that the lives of all Malawians can improve. This is a difficult and long task, but one that people all over Malawi have united around, so I am glad to have the support of our development partners on this journey.”

“I have said before that it may get more difficult before it gets better but we must stick to the course of our economic recovery, whilst at the same time restoring good governance and human rights, which underpin Malawi’s development.”