Malawi will launch an emergency cash transfer programme targeting about 1 million people and small businesses affected by the coronavirus pandemic, President Arthur Peter Mutharika has said.
He said eligible households will receive a 35,000 Malawi kwacha ($40) monthly payment, matching the country’s minimum wage, through mobile cash transfer starting in May, Mutharika said.
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“This will strengthen livelihoods,” Mutharika said in a nightly national address on state television, without specifying how long the programme would last.
The president has also expressed shock over death the third Malawian lost to the complications suffered from coronavirus infection, which he disclosed via a tweet.
President Professor Arthur Peter Mutharika has expressed shock over the death of a third coronavirus patient in the capital Lilongwe. #coronavirus #MgemeKalilani #PeterMutharika https://t.co/GYmNNTPnGx pic.twitter.com/E1JsknXuMA
— This is Malawi (@ThisIsMalawi) April 23, 2020
Report said the low-income country, which so far seen has 36 positive cases of COVID-19 and three deaths, has suffered from economic stagnation in recent years, leading to increasing unrest over falling living standards.
The World Bank said last week it had approved a $37 million funding package to help Malawi respond to the coronavirus.
But the opposition and human rights bodies had already criticized Mutharika’s handling of the outbreak, accusing him of putting partisan interests first.
Malawi’s high court temporarily halted the government’s 21-day coronavirus lockdown pending a judicial review last week.
More consultation was needed to prevent harm to the poorest and most vulnerable of society, the court said.
