Economy - overview:
Landlocked Malawi ranks among the world's most densely populated and least developed countries. The economy is predominately agricultural with about 80% of the population living in rural areas. Agriculture, which has benefited from fertilizer subsidies since 2006, accounts for one-third of GDP and 90% of export revenues. The performance of the tobacco sector is key to short-term growth as tobacco accounts for more than half of exports. The economy depends on substantial inflows of economic assistance from the IMF, the World Bank, and individual donor nations. In 2006, Malawi was approved for relief under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) program. In December 2007, the US granted Malawi eligibility status to receive financial support within the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) initiative. The government faces many challenges including developing a market economy, improving educational facilities, facing up to environmental problems, dealing with the rapidly growing problem of HIV/AIDS, and satisfying foreign donors that fiscal discipline is being tightened. Since 2005 President MUTHARIKA'S government has exhibited improved financial discipline under the guidance of Finance Minister Goodall GONDWE and signed a three year Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility worth $56 million with the IMF. The government has announced infrastructure projects that could yield improvements, such as a new oil pipeline for better fuel access, and the potential for a waterway link through Mozambican rivers to the ocean for better transportation options. Since 2009, however, Malawi has experienced some setbacks, including a general shortage of foreign exchange, which has damaged its ability to pay for imports, and fuel shortages that hinder transportation and productivity. Investment fell 23% in 2009, and continued to decline in 2010. The government has failed to address barriers to investment such as unreliable power, water shortages, poor telecommunications infrastructure, and the high costs of services. Donors, who provided an average of 36 % of government revenue in the past five year, suspended general budget support for Malawi in 2011 due to a negative IMF review and governance issues.
GDP (purchasing power parity): GDP (official exchange rate): GDP - real growth rate: GDP - per capita (PPP): GDP - composition by sector: Labor force: Labor force - by occupation: Unemployment rate: Population below poverty line: Household income or consumption by percentage share: Distribution of family income - Gini index: Investment (gross fixed): Budget: Taxes and other revenues: Budget surplus (+) or deficit (-): Public debt: Inflation rate (consumer prices): Central bank discount rate: Commercial bank prime lending rate: Stock of narrow money: Stock of broad money: Stock of domestic credit: Market value of publicly traded shares: Agriculture - products: Industries: Industrial production growth rate: Electricity - production: Electricity - consumption: Electricity - exports: Electricity - imports: Oil - production: Oil - consumption: Oil - exports: Oil - imports: Natural gas - production: Natural gas - consumption: Natural gas - exports: Natural gas - imports: Natural gas - proved reserves: Current account balance: Exports: Exports - commodities: Exports - partners: Imports: Imports - commodities: Imports - partners: Reserves of foreign exchange and gold: Debt - external: Stock of direct foreign investment - at home: Stock of direct foreign investment - abroad: Exchange rates:
NOTE: 1) The information regarding Malawi on this page is re-published from the 2012 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Malawi Economy 2012 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Malawi Economy 2012 should be addressed to the CIA.
$13.77 billion (2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 139
note: data are in 2011 US dollars
[see also: GDP country ranks ]
$5.7 billion (2011 est.)
[see also: GDP (official exchange rate) country ranks ]
4.6% (2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 89
[see also: GDP - real growth rate country ranks ]
$900 (2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 214
note: data are in 2011 US dollars
[see also: GDP - per capita country ranks ]
agriculture: 30.3%
[see also: GDP - composition by sector - agriculture country ranks ]
industry: 16.3%
[see also: GDP - composition by sector - industry country ranks ]
services: 53.4% (2011 est.)
[see also: GDP - composition by sector - services country ranks ]
5.747 million (2007 est.)
country comparison to the world: 65
[see also: Labor force country ranks ]
agriculture: 90%
[see also: Labor force - by occupation - agriculture country ranks ]
industry and services: 10% (2003 est.)
NA%
[see also: Unemployment rate country ranks ]
53% (2004)
[see also: Population below poverty line country ranks ]
lowest 10%: 3%
[see also: Household income or consumption by percentage share - lowest 10% country ranks ]
highest 10%: 31.9% (2004)
[see also: Household income or consumption by percentage share - highest 10% country ranks ]
39 (2004)
country comparison to the world: 70
[see also: Distribution of family income - Gini index country ranks ]
21.3% of GDP (2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 101
[see also: Investment (gross fixed) country ranks ]
revenues: $1.761 billion
[see also: Budget revenues country ranks ]
expenditures: $1.891 billion (2011 est.)
[see also: Budget expenditures country ranks ]
30.9% of GDP (2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 83
[see also: Taxes and other revenues country ranks ]
-2.3% of GDP (2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 88
[see also: Budget surplus (+) or deficit (-) country ranks ]
36.8% of GDP (2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 84
[see also: Public debt country ranks ]
7.5% (2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 158
[see also: Inflation rate (consumer prices) country ranks ]
15% (31 December 2009)
country comparison to the world: 15
[see also: Central bank discount rate country ranks ]
23.5% (31 December 2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 9
[see also: Commercial bank prime lending rate country ranks ]
$698.8 million (31 December 2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 156
[see also: Stock of narrow money country ranks ]
$1.357 billion (31 December 2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 158
[see also: Stock of broad money country ranks ]
$1.416 billion (31 December 2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 146
[see also: Stock of domestic credit country ranks ]
$1.363 billion (31 December 2010)
country comparison to the world: 100
[see also: Market value of publicly traded shares country ranks ]
tobacco, sugarcane, cotton, tea, corn, potatoes, cassava (tapioca), sorghum, pulses, groundnuts, Macadamia nuts; cattle, goats
tobacco, tea, sugar, sawmill products, cement, consumer goods
5.9% (2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 56
[see also: Industrial production growth rate country ranks ]
1.676 billion kWh (2008 est.)
country comparison to the world: 138
[see also: Electricity - production country ranks ]
1.559 billion kWh (2008 est.)
country comparison to the world: 142
[see also: Electricity - consumption country ranks ]
0 kWh (2009 est.)
[see also: Electricity - exports country ranks ]
0 kWh (2009 est.)
[see also: Electricity - imports country ranks ]
0 bbl/day (2010 est.)
country comparison to the world: 197
[see also: Oil - production country ranks ]
8,000 bbl/day (2010 est.)
country comparison to the world: 158
[see also: Oil - consumption country ranks ]
0 bbl/day (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 189
[see also: Oil - exports country ranks ]
7,124 bbl/day (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 147
[see also: Oil - imports country ranks ]
0 cu m (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 96
[see also: Natural gas - production country ranks ]
0 cu m (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 203
[see also: Natural gas - consumption country ranks ]
0 cu m (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 141
[see also: Natural gas - exports country ranks ]
0 cu m (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 92
[see also: Natural gas - imports country ranks ]
0 cu m (1 January 2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 164
[see also: Natural gas - proved reserves country ranks ]
-$714.2 million (2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 117
[see also: Current account balance country ranks ]
$921.9 million (2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 156
[see also: Exports country ranks ]
tobacco 53%, tea, sugar, cotton, coffee, peanuts, wood products, apparel
India 10.4%, Germany 9.7%, South Africa 7.5%, Russia 7.4%, Zimbabwe 7.4%, Canada 6.4%, US 6.3%, Netherlands 4.7% (2010)
$1.694 billion (2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 164
[see also: Imports country ranks ]
food, petroleum products, semi-manufactures, consumer goods, transportation equipment
South Africa 41.4%, Zambia 7.8%, India 7.5%, China 6.1%, Tanzania 5%, France 4.4%, Mozambique 4.2% (2010)
$172 million (31 December 2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 168
[see also: Reserves of foreign exchange and gold country ranks ]
$1.35 billion (31 December 2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 147
[see also: Debt - external country ranks ]
$NA
[see also: Stock of direct foreign investment - at home country ranks ]
$NA
[see also: Stock of direct foreign investment - abroad country ranks ]
Malawian kwachas (MWK) per US dollar -
2) The rank that you see is the CIA reported rank, which may habe the following issues:
a) They assign increasing rank number, alphabetically for countries with the same value of the ranked item, whereas we assign them the same rank.
b) The CIA sometimes assignes counterintuitive ranks. For example, it assigns unemployment rates in increasing order, whereas we rank them in decreasing order
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This page was last modified 07-Mar-12