PDP President Nankhumwa condemns fuel price increase
President of the People’s Development Party (PDP), Kondwani Nankhumwa, has condemned the latest fuel price hike, describing it as unprecedented and deeply troubling for Malawians.
The Malawi Energy Regulatory Authority (MERA) has raised petrol prices from K3,499 to K4,965 per litre, while diesel has increased from K3,500 to K4,945 per litre — representing price jumps of over 40 percent.
In a statement issued on Wednesday, Nankhumwa warned that the decision will have widespread economic consequences.
“This scale of fuel price increase is unprecedented and deeply troubling. It is an economic shock that will push transport costs, food prices, and production expenses even higher, at a time when Malawians are already struggling to survive,” reads part of the statement.
He criticised the government’s decision to reintroduce the automatic fuel pricing mechanism, arguing that citizens are being exposed to global market shocks without protection.
“The explanation that fuel prices will now be determined by global supply and demand offers little comfort to Malawians who are being left without cushioning from unbearable price shocks,” Nankhumwa said.
The PDP president noted that the fuel hike comes amid other recent price adjustments, including increased electricity tariffs, proposed water tariff hikes, doubled tollgate fees and a rise in Value Added Tax.
“These measures amount to a broader pattern of economic assault on ordinary citizens. Households and businesses are already struggling, and these decisions will only worsen the cost of living,” he added.
Nankhumwa has since called on government to review the fuel pricing decision and engage key stakeholders in shaping what he described as a more caring and people-centred approach to economic management.
Meanwhile, Finance Minister Joseph Mwanamveka says the new tariffs and levies are part of government’s efforts to stabilise Malawi’s ailing economy.
However, Nankhumwa insists that authorities must reconsider the current economic direction, warning that failure to do so risks pushing more Malawians into deeper poverty.
HERE IS THE STATEMENT IN FULL
MY OFFICIAL STATEMENT ON THE RECENT FUEL PRICE INCREASE
Introduction
On Tuesday, January 20, 2026, Malawians woke up to another severe economic shock following a second fuel pump price increase in just three months. The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government announced through the Malawi Energy Regulatory Authority (MERA) that Petrol had been raised from K3,499 to K4,965 per litre, while diesel had moved from K3,500 to K4,945 per litre, representing an increase of over 41 percent.
This follows the first fuel price hike of October 1, 2025, shortly after the DPP assumed office, when the pump price for petrol rose from K2,530 to K3,499 per litre – a 38 percent increase – and that of diesel from K2,734 to K3,500 per litre, a 28 percent increase. Cumulatively, petrol prices have increased by approximately 96 percent and diesel by about 81 percent within just three months. This scale of increase is unprecedented and deeply troubling.
The explanation — and why it is not good enough
The government claims that these fuel price increases are a result of re-adopting the automatic fuel pricing mechanism, meaning that fuel prices will now rise (or fall based) on global supply and demand dynamics and that the government will no longer directly control pump prices.
However, this explanation offers little comfort to Malawians who are being exposed to the full force of price shocks without protection or cushioning, especially at a time when incomes are stagnant and the cost of living is already unbearable.
A broader pattern of economic assault
These fuel hikes have not occurred in isolation. Within the same three-month period, this DPP government has doubled tollgate fees, raised VAT from 16.5 percent to 17.5 percent, implemented PAYE changes that have reduced employees’ take-home pay, and crowded out the private sector by taking over 80 percent of available bank credit through aggressive domestic borrowing.
In addition, new levies on financial transactions—including bank-to-bank transfers and mobile money transactions—have been introduced, alongside increased corporate taxes, including in the gambling sector and through reduced exemption thresholds.
A few hours after the fuel price hike, the DPP government, through Escom, also announced an increase of 12 percent in electricity tariffs. This increase will likely force SMEs and other business operators to pass on the cost to the final consumer. At the rate things are going, I will not be surprised to hear that the DPP government has also hiked water tariffs.
I am also reliably informed that this DPP government is considering a significant devaluation of the Malawi Kwacha in order to meet conditionalities attached to external financing.
What this means for ordinary Malawians
The consequences of these measures are immediate and severe. The higher fuel prices translate into higher transport costs, higher production costs, and higher prices for food and basic commodities. Disposable incomes are shrinking, businesses are struggling to stay afloat under the weight of high taxes and expensive capital, and households are being pushed deeper into poverty.
This is not an abstract policy debate. It is lived suffering for ordinary Malawians.
Government is not a business
At this point, it is important to echo the words of the Consumers Association of Malawi (CAMA), which correctly observed that government is not a business and citizens are not customers.
A country cannot be governed by passing every cost, every shock, and every policy failure directly onto the people and then calling it policy. A near-100 percent fuel price increase within three months amounts to an economic onslaught on ordinary Malawians.
This situation raises a fundamental question: What is the role of the government if it merely transfers every burden to the consumer? Is the DPP running a government, or is it running a business enterprise?
Where is the principle of service? More importantly, where is the cardinal promise made by the President, His Excellency Professor Arthur Peter Mutharika and the DPP that they would protect Malawians from economic shocks?
Broken promises and calculated timing
Malawians are not blind. They can see through the strategy of front-loading painful price increases in the early months of the government while political goodwill still exists. They can also see how the October fuel hike was framed in a way that blurred responsibility with the previous administration, when in fact it was a clear and deliberate decision of the DPP government.
The reality is that the DPP is desperate to raise revenue to finance ill-conceived campaign promises and is willing to sacrifice ordinary Malawians at the altar of partisan politics. In the process, the DPP government has shifted from protecting livelihoods to punishing them.
Conclusion
Taken together, these developments paint a grim economic picture and point to more pain ahead for Malawians unless there is an urgent change of course. The austerity measures that the Office of the President and Cabinet announced recently are a joke.
While Malawians will be buying fuel at exorbitant prices, government vehicles are on the roads, day and night, guzzling fuel paid by the same Malawians, a majority of whom live below the national poverty line, through punitive taxes.
I call upon the DPP government to immediately walk the talk on austerity measures. I also call upon the DPP government to review and reduce fuel and electricity prices or, at the very least, to engage meaningfully and transparently with key stakeholders—including consumers, workers, transporters, and the business community—on a humane and balanced approach to economic management. Failing this, I will not rest but continue to raise the alarm against these insensitive and economically destructive measures until the DPP government listens.
Malawians deserve protection, not punishment. They deserve leadership that serves, not policies that deepen hardship.
21st January, 2026
LILONGWE