Interest payments in Malawi
Malawi: Interest payments was 26.3% in 2022. ▲ Rising
Interest payments in Malawi, 2009–2022
Source: Government Finance Statistics Yearbook and data files, International Monetary Fund (IMF). Measured in % of expense.
Analysis
Malawi recorded 26.3% for interest payments in 2022. That is the highest value across all 14 years on record.
That represents a change of up 29.7% on the previous year and up 187.6% over ten years.
Over the whole period, interest payments in Malawi peaked at 26.3% in 2022 and was at its lowest, 8.7%, in 2013.
That places Malawi 5th out of 152 countries with data for 2022, putting it in the top 10%.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 14 years of available data.
Interest payments in Malawi, year by year
| Year | % of expense | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2009 | 9.0% | — |
| 2010 | 11.1% | +24.1% |
| 2011 | 10.0% | -10.0% |
| 2012 | 9.2% | -8.3% |
| 2013 | 8.7% | -4.6% |
| 2014 | 17.2% | +97.0% |
| 2015 | 15.9% | -7.9% |
| 2016 | 17.9% | +13.2% |
| 2017 | 21.4% | +19.3% |
| 2018 | 17.6% | -17.6% |
| 2019 | 18.5% | +4.8% |
| 2020 | 18.0% | -2.6% |
| 2021 | 20.3% | +12.9% |
| 2022 | 26.3% | +29.7% |
Malawi compared with similar countries
- Malawi's 26.3% is above the median for low income countries, which is 9.0%, 2.9× the median. (15 countries reporting)
- Malawi's 26.3% is above the median for Sub-Saharan Africa, which is 11.3%, 2.3× the median. (35 countries reporting)
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000s | 9.0% | 9.0% | 9.0% | 1 |
| 2010s | 14.8% | 8.7% | 21.4% | 10 |
| 2020s | 21.5% | 18.0% | 26.3% | 3 |
Countries ranked near Malawi
More public sector data for Malawi
- Democracy, annual growth rate 0 % change on previous year (2025)
- Men's universal right to vote, annual growth rate 0 % change on previous year (2025)
- Universal right to vote, annual growth rate 0 % change on previous year (2025)
- Universal right to vote in practice, annual growth rate 0 % change on previous year (2025)
- Elected parliament, annual growth rate 0 % change on previous year (2025)
- Chief executive of the government is elected, annual growth rate 0 % change on previous year (2025)
- Democracy 6 (2025)
- Chief executive of the government is elected 1 (2025)
- Elected parliament 1 (2025)
- Men's universal right to vote 1 (2025)
Frequently asked questions
- What is interest payments in Malawi?
- Interest payments in Malawi was 26.3% in 2022, according to Government Finance Statistics Yearbook and data files, International Monetary Fund (IMF).
- What is the highest interest payments recorded in Malawi?
- The highest recorded value was 26.3% in 2022.
- What is the lowest interest payments recorded in Malawi?
- The lowest recorded value was 8.7% in 2013.
- How does Malawi rank for interest payments?
- Malawi ranks 5th out of 152 countries with data for 2022.
- Is interest payments rising or falling in Malawi?
- Over the last ten years it is up 187.6%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this Malawi data come from?
- The figures come from Government Finance Statistics Yearbook and data files, International Monetary Fund (IMF), published as part of Interest payments (% of expense). Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 14 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (World Bank Open Data).
About this data
Interest payments include interest payments on government debt (including long-term bonds, long-term loans, and other debt instruments) to domestic and foreign residents. This indicator is expressed as percentage of total expenses which is any decrease in net worth resulting from a transaction.