President Peter Mutharika on Friday told Members of Parliament that post-election violence has cost Malawi’s economy K62 billion.

He said since the last year’s elections investors and tourists have been scared away due to political violence which led to vandalism of government and private property.

Mutharika said the post-election violence has negatively affected the performance of the economy.

“The political violence of the last one year disrupted businesses, undermined revenue and slowed down the economy,” he said in his Friday’s pre-recorded State of Nation Address (SONA).

Mutharika said suffering poor taxpayers and victims of the violence are the one’s who will pay the cost of the post-election violence.

He also disclosed that the Covid-19 pandemic has shaken the economy in the past fiscal year.

“Coronavirus came and locked down the world. Business has slowed down, revenue collection undermined and demand to spend on social protection increased.”

But Mutharika said despite of the challenges, Malawi’s economy continues to grow.

“With a real GDP growth rate of 5.1 percent, we still have managed to achieve the 2019 targeted 5 percent of economic growth. This is an improvement from the 3.9 percent real GDP growth registered in 2018,” he said.