Government-by-Government Assessments: Malawi

During the review period, the government made its executive budget proposal and end-of-year reports publicly available online within a reasonable period.  It also resumed publishing its enacted budget within a reasonable period.  While information on most debt obligations was publicly available, information on major state-owned enterprise debt was not accessible.  Publicly available budget documents provided a substantially complete picture of the government’s planned expenditures and revenue, including natural resource revenues.  The information in the budget was generally reliable.  The supreme audit institution met international standards of independence and its audit of the government’s annual financial accounts was published within a reasonable period.  The government specified in law but did not appear to follow in practice the criteria and procedures for awarding natural resource extraction contracts and licenses.  Basic information on natural resource extraction awards was publicly available.

Malawi’s fiscal transparency would be improved by:

• Publishing major state-owned enterprise debt information; and
• Ensuring procedures for awarding natural resource extraction contracts are followed in practice.