Forex

Economists put Malawi's current inflation problems partly down to the shortage of foreign money - known as "forex" - in the banks.

Malawi has often struggled with forex as the country imports much more than it exports.

"We export products like maize, soya beans and sugar, but import expensive products such as fertilisers, medicine and furniture, so we need a huge amount of forex for this," she said.

Businesses wanting to import goods say that when they apply to the banks for forex - in particular US dollars - they are often turned down because there is none available.

"I can't remember when our banks gave us forex," he said.