Malawi’s President Peter Mutharika has announced a ban on the export of raw minerals in a bid to ensure the country fully benefits from its natural resources through local processing and value addition.

Mutharika says the country could earn up to $500 million annually if operations at the Kasiya rutile site in Lilongwe and the Kangankunde rare earth site in Balaka are effectively developed and managed.

Doctor Bertha Bangara-Chikadza, a macroeconomist and lecturer at the Malawi University of Science and Technology, says the decision is a crucial step toward strengthening the country’s economy. “This is the stunt that we needed because people are just coming in, maybe mining and exporting without the country realising the proper benefits from the minerals that we have. This move supports economic diversification and value addition. It’s an opportunity for Malawi to move from relying mainly on agriculture, particularly tobacco, to tapping into the mining sector, which can actually earn more,” she explained.

–ChannelAfrica–