The World Bank and Malawi on Wednesday signed two loan agreements valued at MK34 billion (about US$83.8 million) aimed at strengthening the social safety net and skills development.Speaking after signing the agreements in the capital Lilongwe, the bank’s country manager Laura Kullenburg said the projects are very important for Malawi’s development and its future.

“The bank expects that the two programmes should aim at strengthening the country’s social safety net delivery system so that people earn wages and achieve greater food security as well as right skills young people to be able to find jobs that will release them from poverty,” she said.

She said the Malawian economy depended on a narrow range of primary commodities for growth, and economic diversification was constrained by inadequate supply of human resource with appropriate skills.

According to her, around 90 percent of Malawi’s workforce is engaged in subsistence farming and in the informal sector, with only 10 percent involved in formal jobs.

There is a major skills gap in the country which needs to filled so that people move from subsistence farming to more industrial work, she said.

In his remarks Malawian Finance Minister Goodall Gondwe commended the World Bank for the financial assistance to Malawi.

“We are very grateful to the bank for this support which will go a long way in assisting Malawians to come out of poverty,” he said.

He noted that the World Bank was the first institution to come to the country’s aid in 1966 and has been exemplary in assisting in socio-economic development.