A humble price guide

Price Guide

Understanding what the general price for a product in Malawi is extremely important, as generally, a pale skin complexion will increase the offered price by double sometimes triple from the normal price.

This unfortunate trait occurs from when the few tourist that do visit Malawi posses a lack of understanding of the haggling culture. Similarly, tourists often believe that it is mean to the shop merchant to try and lower the price and so they pay the extremely inflated 'tourist' price, which merely reinforces the behavior.

This approach has many detrimental affects on the livelihoods of the people of Malawi. By offering a short term increase in wealth/income, the tourist is distorting the self-sufficiency of the Malawian people, creating an unhealthy dependency on foreign aid. This topic can be debated or explored in such a brief manner, further reading and research is encouraged to fully explore the predicament tourists are often placed in when travelling to developing countries.

To try and figure out what the Malawian people pay for a certain good at a market, one must undertake a haggling procedure. Going to numerous sellers at numerous markets allows you to gather lots of information on the general price levels. Offering 'low ball' prices to gauge the reaction is often a useful technique.

From my time in Malawi, these are some of the prices are found from market produce. (exchange rates are approximate)

1 kilogram of ground nuts (similar to peanuts) - 500 Kwacha or $1
1 large avocado - 200 Kwacha or $0.40
1kg of Kidney beans - 1200 Kwacha or $2.40
Small basket of charcoal (for cooking with) - 200 Kwacha or $0.40
1 large bunch of bananas - 600 Kwacha or $1.20
1 liter of regular petrol - 830 Kwacha or $1.65
1 Tailored traditional Malawian shirt - 1000 Kwacha or $2
1 medium length trip on the minibus network (similar to buses, but privately owned) 100 Kwacha or $0.20
Average cost meal at a restaurant - 1500 Kwacha or $3