By: Reuters

Malawi's central bank said on Friday that the gold sold to help fund fuel purchases was bought from local small-scale miners, not taken from its international reserves as reported by a local media group.

Malawi's Nation Publications media group reported on Wednesday, citing the Southern African country's information minister, that Malawi had sold gold from the reserves held by the central bank to finance fuel imports.

At the time, the central bank spokesperson did not answer his phone when Reuters called seeking comment. The information minister did not respond either to a request for comment.

On Friday the central bank spokesperson, Boston Maliketi Banda, told Reuters: "The gold we're selling is that we're buying from local artisanal miners. Our pure gold in our international reserves remains not for sale and is in the safe custody of New York Federal Reserve Bank."

Banda said the country still had 69 kg of gold sourced from small-scale miners that it could sell in future.

He declined to say who the country was selling gold to, citing commercial agreements.
Malawi has roughly $61 million worth of gold in its international reserves, Banda said.

The Nation Publications also said Malawi had asked Afreximbank for a $120 million loan to help the country buy fuel. Banda said the loan was still under discussion between the National Oil Company of Malawi and Afreximbank.

He said Malawi was in separate talks with Afreximbank and the Trade and Development Bank over arrears on debts dating back to 2018, mostly incurred to pay for fuel.

Malawi has in recent years experienced frequent fuel shortages, and they were a major issue at last year's election. The situation had improved under President Peter Mutharika, who won September's vote, but the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran has seen snaking queues return at petrol stations.

(Reporting by Frank Phiri;Writing by Anathi Madubela;Editing by Alexander Winning and Emelia Sithole-Matarise)