Malawi projects a growth of at least 4 percent in 2016

Malawi’s economy is expected to expand by more than 4 percent in 2016 from about 3 percent last year as the country recovers from a drought caused by the El Nino weather pattern, its finance minister said.

“We don’t think the weather will be as bad this year as last. Growth could be higher than 4 percent in 2016,” Goodall Gondwe said late Monday.

In September, Malawi’s central bank forecast a growth of 5.4 percent in 2015 and 6.5 percent in 2016 after a 6.0 percent expansion in 2014, but the weather has cast doubt on those projections.

The International Monetary Fund had in the same month said growth in 2016 would slow to 3 percent.

Agriculture accounts for almost a third of Malawi’s economy and provides the livelihood of 80 percent of the population.

Last year, the country suffered floods, then a drought that hit production of the maize crop across southern Africa.