On 26th March, the Malawi Tourism Council (MTC) had a meeting with the Department of Tourism, which is under the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Tourism. The meeting was to discuss various resolves concerning the covid-19 pandemic.
According to an update by the MTC Chairman, Tim van der Linden, the meeting was graced by the Ministry of
Finance and the Reserve Bank of Malawi. During the Meeting, the following resolves were made to cushion the negative impact that the virus outbreak will have on the sector’s employees;
-Suspension of PAYEE and Pension payments by all private tourism operators in Malawi or Government to pay a contribution towards staff members’ wages working in the MalawiTourism Sector (50% requested).
-A temporary waiver on fixed components such as ESCOM.
-Suspension of interest on bank loans / Bank loans against a revised interest rate.
-Temporary suspension of deduction Withholding Tax
According to the update, the above mentioned topics are the first priorities at this moment. Part of the statement reads, “Other topics have been discussed and could be discussed later if, for whatever reason, we do not have positive answers from the Malawi Government regarding the above”
The tourism sector may have 35,000 of its employees affected by the results of the outbreak, while Malawi remains without a confirmed case of the pandemic.