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Located in Southern Africa, Malawi is landlocked, sharing its borders with Mozambique, Zambia, and Tanzania. The country's estimated population is 20.93 million (2023) with an annual growth rate of 2.5%.

Malawi remains one of the poorest countries in the world despite making significant economic and structural reforms to sustain economic growth. The economy is heavily dependent on agriculture, which employs over 80% of the population, and it is vulnerable to external shocks, particularly climatic shocks.

In January 2021, the government launched the  that aims to transform Malawi into a wealthy, self-reliant, industrialized upper-middle-income country, through a focus on agriculture commercialization, industrialization, and urbanization. The first 10-year implementation plan anchors the World Bank¡¯s Country Partnership Framework (CPF) (FY21- FY25).

Political Context

Malawi has enjoyed sustained peace and stable governments since independence in 1964. One-party rule ended in 1993. Since then, multi-party presidential and parliamentary elections have been held every five years.

Malawi¡¯s sixth tripartite elections were conducted in May 2019. The presidential results were nullified in February 2020 by the Constitutional Court. Fresh presidential elections were held on June 23, 2020, in which Lazarus Chakwera of the Malawi Congress Party and Saulos Chilima of the UTM Party were elected as president and vice president respectively after getting 58.6% of the votes. They won against Peter Mutharika of the Democratic Progressive Party and United Democratic Front coalition that received 39.4% of the votes. President Lazarus Chakwera and Vice President Saulos Chilima lead a coalition of several political parties known as the Tonse Alliance. In late June 2024, President Chakwera appointed a new Vice President, Michael Usi, UTM Vice President, following the death of Vice President Saulos Chilima in plane crash on June 10, 2024. The next general election is scheduled September 16, 2025.

Last Updated: Oct 14, 2024

The   focuses on three areas: bolstering foundations for growth and accountability, promoting private sector-led jobs, and strengthening human capital development, with digital development and women¡¯s empowerment as cross-cutting themes. The CPF is anchored in the Malawi 2063 vision. A Performance and Learning Review of the CPF is expected in the first quarter of FY25 and will include a request for extension of the CPF period to FY26.

As of March 2024, the World Bank¡¯s portfolio in Malawi consists of 29 IDA lending operations with a total commitment amount of $3.35 billion of which 8 projects (worth $822.28 million) are regional projects. These are complemented by $170.74 million in trust funds (both Bank and Recipient Executed).

The portfolio includes financing for programs in agriculture and food security, urban resilience and land, social protection and jobs, governance, basic service delivery (including health, education, and water and sanitation), and support in the energy, transportation, digital development, trade logistics, finance, and competitiveness sectors.

International Finance Corporation (IFC)

IFC¡¯s engagement in Malawi focuses on investment and advisory activities that help diversify the economy, develop energy infrastructure, and improve access to finance.

Under the infrastructure and natural resources program, IFC is providing public-private partnership advisory services to the water, transport, and energy sectors. IFC supports private sector involvement in hydro and other renewable energy power projects identified as a priority in Malawi¡¯s Integrated Resource Plan.

IFC is supporting value addition enterprises in the agribusiness sub-sector, diversification of Malawi¡¯s exports, and increasing agricultural productivity through support of irrigation projects and working with the government to improve the environment for private sector investments in this sector.

In the financial sector, IFC provides advisory support with the aim of increasing access to trade finance and finance for small and medium enterprises (SMEs), and to help improve the collateral registry and credit reference systems.

Last Updated: Oct 10, 2024

The $135 million aims to strengthen Local Authorities¡¯ institutional performance, responsiveness to citizens, and management of resources for service delivery.

Through the project¡¯s introduction of a new Performance-Based Grant (PBG), an architecture has been established that increases the trust to consolidate expenditure through local government systems, thereby achieving meaningful deepening of decentralization. Since its launch in 2020, results achieved include:

¡¤&²Ô²ú²õ±è;&²Ô²ú²õ±è;&²Ô²ú²õ±è;&²Ô²ú²õ±è;&²Ô²ú²õ±è; Strengthening Local Government Institutional Performance: A significant increase in local government capability as measured by the Local Authority Performance Assessment (LAPA), with an average score increase of 28 points (out of 100) across all 28 of rural Malawi¡¯s Local Authorities (LAs).

¡¤&²Ô²ú²õ±è;&²Ô²ú²õ±è;&²Ô²ú²õ±è;&²Ô²ú²õ±è;&²Ô²ú²õ±è; Filling Locally Identified Infrastructure Gaps: 681 infrastructure projects that respond to citizen-driven needs across sectors including health, education, and transport have been delivered or are underway through decentralized local government structures.

¡¤&²Ô²ú²õ±è;&²Ô²ú²õ±è;&²Ô²ú²õ±è;&²Ô²ú²õ±è;&²Ô²ú²õ±è; Bolstering Financial Management of Resources: Audit performance has progressed from a 3-year backlog to a 2023 result where all LA audits are current, with 10 of 28 receiving an unqualified opinion.

¡¤&²Ô²ú²õ±è;&²Ô²ú²õ±è;&²Ô²ú²õ±è;&²Ô²ú²õ±è;&²Ô²ú²õ±è; Supporting Co-Production of Demand-side Accountability Structures: District CSO Networks in all 28 LAs are working together with local governments to support their delivery of the PBG to unlock further resources for citizens.

The $72.4 million? (DIGMAP), aims to increase access to affordable, high-quality internet services for government, businesses, and citizens. Since its implementation in 2018, results achieved include:

• Supporting Youth - 10 Tech Hubs were supported across the country providing training in digital skills, basic ICT literacy and entrepreneurship, to over 19,000 youth (versus an original target of 5,000), with over 50% of beneficiaries being women.
• Over 50 young tech enthusiasts have been matched with internship programs in various organizations. 
• Internet for Academia - Over 83,000 students from 81 higher learning institutions in Malawi are now able to access cheaper and reliable internet connectivity though the  Around 40% of the students are women.
• Over 100 Free Public Wi-Fi spots are now available in public locations including post offices, hospitals, schools, libraries, marketplaces, and airports, providing access to free internet, and for business continuity.
• Over 500 government sites including offices, post offices, hospitals, among others have been provided with internet connectivity which is critical for improved efficiency of public service delivery.
• The national data center has been constructed in Lilongwe to serve data hosting needs including safe storage and protection of government data.

The 2019 ambitious $100 million  was designed to fast-track electrification efforts and provide electricity access to approximately 1.6 million people, constituting 8% of the population. Since the start of its implementation, results include:

• Over 1million people now have access to electricity, bringing long-awaited relief to customers who have been waiting for over five years.
• , the implementing agency has embraced transparency and accountability by publishing all quarterly connection targets on its customer engagement platforms.
• The , meaning "bright!" in Chichewa, an integral part of the MEAP, established to provide working capital and grants, fostering the growth of the private sector-led Off-Grid solar segment of the market, has forged partnerships with five leading solar companies in Malawi, embarking on a connection campaign to provide solar home systems to about 180,000 households, achieving 90% of the target.

Last Updated: Oct 10, 2024

The European Union, African Development Bank, United Nations agencies, bilateral donors such as FCDO, USAID, Germany, Norway, and China, the World Bank Group, and the International Monetary Fund are among Malawi¡¯s key development partners.

The government and its cooperating partners have a Development Cooperation Strategy (DCS 2014-2018) which is currently being updated. It guides development cooperation in the country. The DCS advocates inclusive partnerships, government leadership, and country ownership of the national development agenda, and alignment around national systems and strategies. It also embraces focusing on results that matter to citizens and encourages partnerships among development actors based on mutual trust, transparency, and accountability.

Last Updated: Oct 10, 2024