East Africa: Malawi Benefiting From Comesa Statistics Programmes, Says NSO

What the report says

Malawi’s National Statistics Office says the country is already seeing benefits from the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa’s Committee on Statistical Matters, according to Nyasa Times, which AllAfrica distributed. NSO Commissioner Shelton Kanyanda said Malawi was the first country to produce a food security analysis report jointly with Comesa and Statistics Norway, using data from the 2024 Integrated Household Survey. He also said the office is expanding work in other areas, including informal cross-border trade.

The comments were made during the 17th CCSM meeting in Lusaka, Zambia, held on 7 and 8 October. The gathering focused on the bloc’s 2026-2030 Regional Strategy for Development of Statistics, which is intended to strengthen statistical systems across Comesa member states. Participants reviewed progress, identified challenges and gaps, and considered findings from a regional assessment of statistical production and capacity.

Comesa Assistant Secretary General for programmes Mohammed Kadah said the new strategy could help build on previous progress while addressing continuing problems such as delayed data submissions, uneven technical capacity, limited resources and difficulty applying harmonised methods. The meeting included all Comesa member states and several development partners. The report matters because better regional statistics can support policy planning, food security analysis and trade monitoring across eastern and southern Africa.