Some commercial banks in Malawi have been currently been reported to be hoarding Forex, under claims of is Forex shortage. However, customers are being given an option of forward contract; an arrangement that avails the Forex on a later date but at higher forex prices. This has worried numerous customers that have lost faith in all banking floors, accusing the banks of creating a forex shortage.

“A Forex shortage does not alter the normal prices of Forex” says a concerned anonymous customer, who also noted that other banks are exchanging normally under the supposed Forex shortage. So being, banks that are claiming that there is a Forex shortage, are trying to cause panic in the market by hoarding Forex, to make more money by imposing forward contracts.

However, not all banks are partaking in the malpractice. “In other banks, one United States Dollar is still at 744, exchanging normally” says another customer, “..so it does not make sense that the forex shortage is partial”.

True enough, a Forex shortage would mean that Malawi lacks a sufficient supply of U.S. dollars to manage its international trade effectively; which would be announced by the Reserve Bank of Malawi (RBM), but last time RBM spoke of its Forex reserves the figures were alright.