Money - Malawian Kwacha

In Malawi the highest bill is 1000 K (2.50 $). This is only really a problem for the rich mzungus who carry a lot of money with them. Here the man with the fat wallet is quite literally a rich man and you can spot them not only from their skin color, but also from the size of their wallet:

This is 200 $

And then there are the lower bank notes, which always feel a bit wet and most often are in very big shape. The reason for this is that women working usually keep their bills in their bras when they go to town. And you can not move in Malawi without sweating (but especially if you are carrying a lot of firewood on your head, a baby on your back (and maybe one in the belly), and something in your hands.

It hasn’t always been like that, though, the Kwacha has lost a lot of value in the past ten years alone. The main problem is that Malawi does not export a lot of goods. One of their main exports is tobacco, so when the tobacco season is over, the Kwacha usually loses value (because the demand for Kwacha goes down). So it is something that is quite seasonal. What we see happening right now is again a big drop of the value of the Kwacha. When I arrived the exchange rate was about 420 Kwacha, now some banks offer more than 500 Kwacha per USD. It is the end of tobacco season, but this time it is also that the western donor nations have stopped their support for Malawi because of something called “Cashgate”, where Malawian government officials have stolen billions of Kwacha from the government money. Because of this, western donor nations have stopped the aid because they first want to ensure that something like this could never happen again. And that is why there is no foreign money coming into Malawi, which again helps to devalue the Kwacha.