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Africa > Malawi

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Cover High-Level Summary Technical Assistance Reports
Malawi: Data Quality Assessment for Public Sector Debt Statistics
Andrew Kitili
and
David S Bailey
In January/February 2025, an assessment was undertaken of the data quality of the public sector debt statistics (PSDS) of Malawi against the IMF’s Data Quality Assessment Framework (DQAF) for PSDS. The mission was undertaken as part of a project to strengthen the quality of public sector debt in select African countries, funded by the Government of Japan. The mission reviewed the PSDS compilation and dissemination practices against each element of the DQAF and presented a series of recommendations to improve the quality and transparency of the PSDS of Malawi.
Keywords:
Data Quality Assessment Framework (DQAF); Debt Reporting; Debt Transparency; JSA; Public Debt; Public Sector Debt Statistics (PSDS); Malawi; PSDS compilation; capacity development recipient; PSDS of Malawi; debt data transparency; government data agency; Government finance statistics; Government debt management; Securities
Cover Technical Assistance Reports
Malawi: Technical Assistance Report-Report on Data Quality Assessment for Public Sector Debt Statistics Mission (January 29-February 4, 2025)
International Monetary Fund. Statistics Dept.
This report discusses the findings and recommendations of a diagnostic assessment of the quality of public sector debt statistics (PSDS) of Malawi based on the IMF’s Data Quality Assessment Framework for PSDS. The assessment was undertaken in February 2025 as part of a project to strengthen the quality of public sector debt data in select African countries, funded by the Government of Japan. Like many low-income countries, Malawi is facing challenges servicing its public debt. The latest joint IMF-World Bank debt sustainability analysis of January 2024 indicates that the country is in debt distress. The authorities have taken measures lately to strengthen governance and transparency of public debt. In 2022, Malawi enacted a new Public Finance Management Act providing a legal framework for government borrowing as well as the issuance and management of guarantees by government including guarantees to State-owned enterprises. The key recommendations of the diagnostic assessment include enacting a new legislation to address public debt management operations in line with the practice in the region; expanding the sector coverage of public debt beyond the budgetary central government; expanding instrument coverage to other accounts payables; reconciling stocks and flows and publishing the results transparently; enhancing the frequency of public debt reports and reactivating the dissemination of debt through the National Summary Data Page as well as the joint IMF-World Bank Quarterly Public Sector Debt statistics database. The authorities have adopted recommendations and developed an action plan to implement them in a phased manner.
Keywords:
Data Quality Assessment Framework (DQAF); Debt Reporting; Debt Transparency; JSA; Public Debt; Public Sector Debt Statistics (PSDS); Malawi.
Cover Technical Assistance Reports
Malawi: Technical Assistance Report-Report on the Improving Estimates of Gross Domestic Product Mission (June 24–July 5, 2024)
International Monetary Fund. Statistics Dept.
The mission assisted the National Statistical Office of Malawi improve the quality of the published annual estimates of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), progressed the use of Value Added Tax (VAT) data as a basis for developing quarterly series and supported development of current price estimates of GDP based on the expenditure approach (GDP-E). Specially, the mission reviewed the quality of the published GDP series and finalized Supply and Use Tables for 2017. This allowed the development of annual current price estimates of GDP-E. In addition, the mission initiated estimation of quarterly current price estimates of GDP for some activities based on data for company sales from Malawi’s VAT system.
Keywords:
GDP; Supply and Use Tables; expenditure GDP; quarterly GDP; administrative data; value added tax; Malawi.; business processing documentation; STA Department; estimates of GDP-E; consumption expenditure; VAT data; Value-added tax; Consumer price indexes; Gross fixed investment
Cover IMF Staff Country Reports
République du Congo: Questions Générales
International Monetary Fund. African Dept.
Ce document se concentre sur les impacts macroéconomiques des arriérés intérieurs du gouvernement en République du Congo. Les autorités ont intensifié leurs efforts d’atténuation, notamment en améliorant la marge budgétaire pour accélérer le remboursement, en améliorant la transparence de la dette pour permettre une reconnaissance rapide des arriérés et en lançant d’importantes réformes pour améliorer la prévention. À l’avenir, il sera crucial de maintenir le rythme des réformes. Les priorités comprennent le renforcement des coussins budgétaires pour assurer un remboursement en temps voulu, l’amélioration de la couverture de la dette et les réformes de la transparence pour permettre une vision globale de la dette publique, l’accélération de la dette et les réformes de la GFP pour permettre une meilleure gestion et un meilleur contrôle.
Keywords:
stratégie de diversification; l’objectif de diversification du Congo; l’investissement dans l’adaptation; plan d’évacuation; le remboursement des arriérés; Stratégie de CMR; Prix du carburant; L’inclusion financière; les subventions à l’énergie; Catastrophes naturelles; Global; Afrique subsaharienne; score d’efficacité fiscale; Coût de l’importation de pétrole.
Cover IMF Notes
Agricultural Producer Subsidies: Navigating Challenges and Policy Considerations
David Amaglobeli
,
Todd Benson
, and
Tewodaj Mogues
The objectives underlying agricultural output subsidies can have conflicting implications for the design of subsidy programs. As they tend to affect meaningful swaths of the electorate, subsidies can also be an attractive political instrument. By artificially lowering production costs or assuring higher output prices, direct support measures can result in resource misallocation in instances where they fail to address market failures, such as imperfect information about the returns to fertilizers. Subsidies can also contribute to fertilizer overuse, harming the environment and the agricultural sector in the long term. Furthermore, agricultural production subsidies are often fiscally costly and unfavorable compared to alternative uses of public funds—both within the agricultural sector and outside it—to achieve the same ends. Various design and implementation challenges amplify the shortcomings of producer subsidy programs.
Keywords:
Agricultural subsidies; direct farmer support; payments to agricultural producers; producer subsidy; input subsidy program; IMF note 2024/002; output price subsidy; implementation challenge; Agricultural policy; Government subsidies; Agroindustries; Agricultural sector; Price incentives; Global; Sub-Saharan Africa
Cover Selected Decisions and Selected Documents of the International Monetary Fund
Selected Decisions and Selected Documents of the International Monetary Fund
Forty-Third Issue Supplement
International Monetary Fund. Legal Dept.

Abstract

A supplement to the Forty-Third Issue of Selected Decisions and Selected Documents of the International Monetary Fund, incorporating items posted after January 1, 2023.

Keywords:
MCP decision; Review of the Fund's Policy; payments policy; adequacy assessment framework; fund surveillance; Balance of payments need; Anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT); Liquidity; Lines of credit; Global
Cover Policy Papers
Review of the Policy on Staff-Monitored Program With Executive Board Involvement
International Monetary Fund. Strategy, Policy, & Review Department
,
International Monetary Fund. Finance Dept.
, and
International Monetary Fund. Legal Dept.
This paper reviews the policy on Staff-Monitored Program with Executive Board Involvement (PMB). The PMB plays an important niche role in the Fund’s toolkit in supporting members in circumscribed circumstances, while not supplanting the Staff-Monitored Programs (SMPs) as the primary tool for building or rebuilding a track record towards a Fund arrangement that supports a UCT-quality program. Experience with the PMB is limited to three country cases over the past sixteen months. Further experience would be needed to draw more definitive conclusions in terms of the usefulness of the PMB vis-à-vis alternative instruments and a more parsimonious Fund toolkit. In this context, the PMB is kept in the toolkit, and it will be expected to be reviewed in three years.
Keywords:
Concessional external borrowing; Debt sustainability; External Debt; Monetary policy; Political economy; PMB approval; PMB policy; use criteria; IMF toolkit; transparency policy; Credit; Debt relief; Debt restructuring; Global
Cover IMF Staff Country Reports
Malawi: Second Review Under the Staff-Monitored Program with Executive Board Involvement and Request for an Arrangement Under the Extended Credit Facility-Press Release; Staff Report
International Monetary Fund. African Dept.
This paper discusses Malawi’s Second Review under the Staff-Monitored Program with Executive Board Involvement (PMB) and Request for an Arrangement under the Extended Credit Facility (ECF). Malawi continues to face a challenging macroeconomic environment. Years of unsustainable domestic and external borrowing and the adverse impact of multiple external shocks have resulted in the widening of macroeconomic imbalances, including protracted balance of payment needs. The ECF-supported program will support the authorities’ macroeconomic adjustment and reform agenda aimed at restoring macroeconomic stability, building a foundation for inclusive and sustainable growth, and addressing weaknesses in governance. Further delays in the restructuring of Malawi’s external debt would put at risk macroeconomic stabilization. The risks of moving forward with the ECF arrangement without an agreement in principle between the Malawian authorities and their commercial creditors are significant. IMF staff assesses that the PMB remains on track to achieve its objectives. It supports the authorities’ request for the ECF arrangement, conditional upon receipt of financing assurances.
Keywords:
authorized dealer banks; ECF arrangement; staff appraisal; executive board involvement; financing gap; Debt service; International reserves; Global; Africa; Sub-Saharan Africa
Cover Policy Papers
2021 Special Drawing Rights Allocation—Ex-Post Assessment Report
International Monetary Fund. Strategy, Policy, & Review Department
and
International Monetary Fund. Finance Dept.
This report follows up on the impact of the historic $650 billion 2021 SDR allocation on the global economy, documenting IMF members' use of the allocation and assessing its economic effects. The report finds that the allocation was beneficial for the global economy, helping meet the long-term global need for reserves and supporting market confidence. Members used the allocation mostly to increase international reserve buffers, with some emerging market and developing countries also using it to meet fiscal and external financing needs. While SDR interest costs have increased, members’ capacity to service SDR obligations remains generally adequate. Members’ use of the allocation was mostly in line with Fund advice, and the transparency and accountability of SDR holdings and use has been broadly appropriate, although some gaps remain. Voluntary SDR channeling from economically stronger to more vulnerable members has helped amplify the benefits of the allocation.
Keywords:
SDR channeling; service SDR obligation; SDR tracker; SDR converter; SDR department obligation; SDR interest rate; Freely usable currencies; International reserves; Credit default swap; Currencies; Global
Cover IMF Staff Country Reports
Malawi: First Review Under the Staff-Monitored Program with Executive Board Involvement-Press Release; Staff Report; and Statement by the Executive Director for Malawi
International Monetary Fund. African Dept.
This paper presents Malawi’s First Review under the Staff-Monitored Program with Executive Board (PMB) Involvement. In light of a series of shocks, program performance was mixed. The authorities are taking corrective actions to establish a record of accomplishment of policy implementation, possibly paving the way to an Extended Credit Facility (ECF) arrangement. Cyclone Freddy has weighed on the outlook for 2023 and led to a lower growth forecast and a higher inflation forecast. Key downside risks include slippages in program implementation, delays in the ongoing external debt restructuring process, and further external shocks. Performance on Quantitative Targets (QTs), Indicative Targets (ITs), and Structural Benchmarks was mixed, with four out of six end-December and continuous QTs and one out of three end-December ITs not met. Four out of seven Structural Benchmarks were not met. The authorities have committed to strong corrective actions. The authorities are taking corrective actions necessary to overcome mixed performance and implementation challenges with the PMB to date, allowing them to demonstrate their commitment and capacity to implement the agreed macroeconomic adjustment and reforms to build the policy record of accomplishment needed to support their request for an ECF arrangement.
Keywords:
restructuring strategy; monitoring of program performance; price discovery; policy track record; government Finance Statistics Manual; FX swap rollover risk; Debt service; International reserves; Global