Good afternoon and welcome to this prestigious annual event in the calendar of the Reserve Bank of Malawi. It is my pleasure today to officially present books to Livingstonia University, this morning.

Ladies and gentlemen, information is the key to all aspects of social-economic development. It is regarded as wealth, which helps in transforming all natural resources of a country into finished products. It is an economic category since the success of a country depends on the availability and quality of information. Many of the less developed countries that embraced and included the knowledge concept in their vision for development are far advanced and highly developed today. A good example is Malaysia.

Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, here in Malawi, we are aware that sometimes, due to scanty and inadequate information, economic growth and development have met unanticipated difficulties. Development projects fail to be cost-effective and those that succeed produce only temporary or marginal benefits. Others do not generate the rate of return of the flow of goods and services anticipated in their conception and design. Information can play a major role in the economic growth of Malawi but we are in danger of being left behind in this Information Society.

It is against this background that the Reserve Bank of Malawi donates books to various university colleges in Malawi. The Bank realizes the importance of tertiary education in the economic development of this country. It is also aware of the financial constraints the colleges face in trying to acquire books. It is common knowledge that the university colleges are grossly handicapped by lack of properly stocked libraries. Students and lecturers sometimes use information which is out-of-date. Researchers face problems when they try to do their job and they have to go from place to place looking for basic data and materials.

Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, the Reserve Bank of Malawi, once again, today, is going to present a book donation to Livingstonia University. Last year the Reserve Bank of Malawi extended a grant of K401,804.00 to the University. This year it has again managed within its limited resources to donate books worth K300,000.00. As usual, the books presented here today were selected and sourced by the colleges themselves after receiving allocations in dollar terms from the Bank. All the Bank did was to pay for the books and receive them from the suppliers.

Ladies and gentlemen, this is not the first time the Bank has assisted the University of Malawi. In the past, the Bank used to provide awards to best students in Economics at Chancellor College. For sometime now the Bank has been making book grants to the University to enable the Libraries develop collections in different subject areas. It is my strong desire to see to it that the relationship between the Reserve Bank of Malawi and Livingstonia University should grow from strength to strength, not only in the field of information but in other areas as well.

Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, with these few remarks, it is now my pleasure to present the books to Livingstonia University.

Thank you and May God bless you all.