Economy - overview Landlocked Malawi ranks among the world's least developed countries. The economy is predominately agricultural, with about 90% of the population living in rural areas. Agriculture accounts for 40% of GDP and 88% of export revenues. The economy depends on substantial inflows of economic assistance from the IMF, the World Bank, and individual donor nations. In late 2000, Malawi was approved for relief under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) program. The government faces strong challenges, e.g., to fully develop a market economy, to improve educational facilities, to face up to environmental problems, and to deal with the rapidly growing problem of HIV/AIDS. The performance of the tobacco sector is key to short-term growth.

GDP purchasing power parity - $7 billion (2001 est.)

GDP - real growth rate 1.7% (2001 est.)

GDP - per capita purchasing power parity - $660 (2001 est.)

GDP - composition by sector
agriculture: 40%
industry: 19%
services: 41% (2000 est.)

Population below poverty line 54% (FY90/91 est.)

Household income or consumption by percentage share
lowest 10%: NA%
highest 10%: NA%

Inflation rate (consumer prices) 28.6% (2001 est.)

Labor force 4.5 million (2001 est.)

Labor force - by occupation agriculture 86% (1997 est.)

Unemployment rate NA%

Budget
revenues: $490 million
expenditures: $523 million, including capital expenditures of $NA (FY99/00 est.)

Industries tobacco, tea, sugar, sawmill products, cement, consumer goods

Industrial production growth rate 2.5% (2001 est.)

Electricity - production 825 million kWh (2000)

Electricity - production by source
fossil fuel: 3.03%
hydro: 96.97%
other: 0% (2000)
nuclear: 0%

Electricity - consumption 767.25 million kWh (2000)

Electricity - exports 0 kWh (2000)

Electricity - imports 0 kWh (2000)

Agriculture - products tobacco, sugarcane, cotton, tea, corn, potatoes, cassava (tapioca), sorghum, pulses; cattle, goats, groundnuts, Macadamia nuts

Exports $415.5 million (f.o.b., 2001)

Exports - commodities tobacco, tea, sugar, cotton, coffee, peanuts, wood products, apparel

Exports - partners South Africa 18%, Germany 13%, US 13%, UK 10%, Japan 7%, Netherlands 3% (2000)

Imports $463.6 million (f.o.b., 2001)

Imports - commodities food, petroleum products, semimanufactures, consumer goods, transportation equipment

Imports - partners South Africa 40%, UK 11%, Zimbabwe 7%, Japan 5%, Germany 2%, US 1.8%, Zambia (2000)

Debt - external $2.8 billion (2001 est.)

Economic aid - recipient $427 million (1999)

Currency Malawian kwacha (MWK)

Currency code MWK

Exchange rates Malawian kwachas per US dollar - 67.3111 (December 2001), 72.1973 (2001), 59.5438 (2000), 44.0881 (1999), 31.0727 (1998), 16.4442 (1997)

Fiscal year 1 July - 30 June

NOTE: The information regarding Malawi on this page is re-published from the 2002 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Malawi Economy 2002 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Malawi Economy 2002 should be addressed to the CIA.