75093

                         Republic Of Malawi: Country Assistance Strategy

                                      CHAIR’S SUMMING UP
                                  Meeting of the Executive Directors
                                              January 29, 2013


      Executive Directors discussed the joint IDA/IFC/MIGA Country Assistance Strategy
(CAS) for the Republic of Malawi for the period FY13-16 and agreed that it is well aligned with
the Government of Malawi’s Second Growth and Development Strategy (MGDS II)
(IDA/R2013-0003[IFC/R2013-0001; MIGA/R2013-0001]).

        Directors offered strong support for the CAS and its prioritization of the three themes of
sustainable diversified and inclusive growth; human capital development and reduction of
vulnerabilities; and strengthening governance. They noted that the CAS comes at the onset of
Malawi’s strong reform program which has shown early signs of economic recovery, and they
welcomed the successful completion of the first review of the IMF Extended Credit Facility. In
this regard, Directors encouraged the Malawian authorities’ continued commitment to implement
and sequence their reform program and urged them to consult widely to secure wider and lasting
support for reforms.

        Directors were concerned by stubbornly high poverty levels and called for concerted and
bold action from the authorities and all development partners to address Malawi’s multiple
structural challenges. In this respect, they urged prioritization of economic diversification and
agricultural transformation and growth. The importance of promoting regional integration to
stimulate trade and to develop the transport and energy sectors was also highlighted. Directors
called for an integrated World Bank Group strategy with other donors to support private sector
development. In this regard, they welcomed the IFC’s growing role in Malawi to improve the
business environment and encouraged efforts to establish good practices in the mining sector.

        Directors highlighted the need to build effective implementation capacity, particularly
encouraged reforms and capacity building to strengthen public financial management. They also
underscored the importance of mainstreaming disaster risk management and resilience into
operations. In addition, they welcomed intentions to incorporate gender into operations and
analytic work, drawing particular attention to girls’ education. They also called for a
consolidated approach to protect the country’s human capital, particularly by addressing
HIV/AIDS prevention and reproductive health issues.

      Finally, Directors encouraged the Bank to focus its interventions and play a strong role in
convening donors to support the overall reform agenda and looked forward to discussing the
CAS Progress Report.



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    This summary is not an approved record.