The Ministry of Finance has disbursed K1 million to approximately 4 250 ultra-poor households in Phalombe and Mulanje. The funds will be used to boost the recipient’s small-scale businesses.

The ministry’s director of pensions and financial sector policy division Davie Wirima outlined that the sum will be disbursed under the Building Sustainable Livelihoods for Ultra-Poor project being implemented by the Community Savings and Investments Promotion (Comsip) Cooperative Union Limited with technical and financial support from the Financial Access for Rural Markets, Smallholders and Enterprise (Farmse).

“The seed capital grants to the ultra-poor households’ beneficiaries will jump-start one or more economic activities among the beneficiaries and in the long-run transition them into improved and more resilient livelihoods.” said Wirima.

By January last year, statistics indicated that Malawi’s ultra-poverty rate stood at 20.1% in 2016 down from 24.5 percent in 2011. On the other hand, from 50.4% in 2010, poverty registered an increase to 51.5% in 2017, says a 2019 African Economic Outlook Report. The study, carried out by the African Development Bank (AfDB) states that poverty in rural areas registers 56.6%, citing food security as the major cause for the record.