The international charity Action Aid has advised the government of Malawi to stop acting as if the country does not have money but work on ending irregularities that make the country lose a lot of money.

For example, project officer Grecian Kanyamata says Malawi loses an estimated revenue loss of US $ 87.0 million to tax incentives offered to international multinationals that invest in the country.

He was speaking on Friday on the sidelines of a district executive meeting in Ntchisi.

“Multinational companies pay low taxes when actually they are supposed to pay higher taxes. This is so because the government believes this is one way of attracting the investors, but this makes the government loose US $ 87.0m annually,” said Kanyamata.

According to Kanyamata, Malawi can educate 154,000 girls who are currently out of school with just 6% of this US $ 87.0m.

The organization has further advised the government to allow exemption of taxes on items that are important to the masses such as salt and soap, rather than things like cement which are important but not necessities.

Kanyamata added: “Government should first consider local people before anything else.”

Action Aid has been implementation a project called Tax Justice for Gender Responsive Public Services in Malawi.