## Malawi: First Review Under the Staff-Monitored Program with Executive Board Involvement-Press Release; Staff Report; and Statement by the Executive Director for Malawi

_IMF Staff Country Reports, July 31, 2023_

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## Bibliographic details
- Published: July 31, 2023
- Series: IMF Staff Country Reports
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.5089/9798400250941.002

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### Executive summary
- Presents Malawi’s First Review under the Staff-Monitored Program with Executive Board (PMB) Involvement.
- Program performance was mixed in light of a series of shocks.
- 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: slippages in program implementation, delays in the ongoing external debt restructuring process, and further external shocks.

### Performance on program targets and structural benchmarks
- Quantitative Targets (QTs), Indicative Targets (ITs), and Structural Benchmarks: mixed performance.
- QTs: four out of six end-December and continuous QTs were not met.
- ITs: one out of three end-December ITs was not met.
- Structural Benchmarks: four out of seven Structural Benchmarks were not met.
- Authorities have committed to strong corrective actions to address these implementation shortfalls.

### Policy implications and authorities’ commitments
- Authorities are taking corrective actions necessary to overcome mixed performance and implementation challenges with the PMB to date.
- Objective of corrective actions: demonstrate commitment and capacity to implement the agreed macroeconomic adjustment and reforms needed to support a request for an ECF arrangement.
- Priority areas implied by the report’s focus: monitoring of program performance, advancing the external debt restructuring process, and strengthening resilience to external shocks.

### Thematic coverage and technical scope
- Subjects covered: Central banks, Debt service, External debt, Foreign exchange, International organization, International reserves, Monetary policy, Public debt.
- Keywords: Debt service, FX swap rollover risk, Global, government Finance Statistics Manual, International reserves, monitoring of program performance, policy track record, price discovery, restructuring strategy.

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_Source: https://www.imf.org/en/publications/cr/issues/2023/07/31/malawi-first-review-under-the-staff-monitored-program-with-executive-board-involvement-537345_