Interest payments (% of revenue) in Malawi
Malawi: Interest payments (% of revenue) was 35.8% in 2024. ▲ Rising
Interest payments in Malawi, 2009–2024
Source: Government Finance Statistics Yearbook and data files, International Monetary Fund (IMF). Measured in % of revenue.
Analysis
Malawi recorded 35.8% for interest payments in 2024. That is the highest value across all 16 years on record.
The figure is up 22.8% on the previous year and up 103.5% over ten years.
Over the whole period, interest payments in Malawi peaked at 35.8% in 2024 and was at its lowest, 7.0%, in 2013.
That places Malawi 2nd out of 155 countries with data for 2024, putting it in the top 10%.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 16 years of available data.
Interest payments (% of revenue) in Malawi, year by year
| Year | % of revenue | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2009 | 8.6% | — |
| 2010 | 8.4% | -2.4% |
| 2011 | 8.4% | -0.0% |
| 2012 | 9.2% | +10.1% |
| 2013 | 7.0% | -23.7% |
| 2014 | 17.6% | +149.6% |
| 2015 | 15.5% | -12.0% |
| 2016 | 16.4% | +6.2% |
| 2017 | 18.5% | +12.7% |
| 2018 | 18.9% | +2.1% |
| 2019 | 19.8% | +4.8% |
| 2020 | 20.7% | +4.4% |
| 2021 | 24.8% | +19.8% |
| 2022 | 29.9% | +20.8% |
| 2023 | 29.1% | -2.7% |
| 2024 | 35.8% | +22.8% |
Malawi compared with similar countries
- Malawi's 35.8% is above the median for low income countries, which is 7.4%, 4.8× the median. (16 countries reporting)
- Malawi's 35.8% is above the median for Sub-Saharan Africa, which is 11.6%, 3.1× the median. (36 countries reporting)
Biggest year-on-year movements
Years where Interest payments (% of revenue) in Malawi changed far more than this series normally does. A large move can be a real event or a change in how the figure was measured — the source note below says who published it.
| Year | Change | From | To |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | +149.6% | 7.0% | 17.6% |
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000s | 8.6% | 8.6% | 8.6% | 1 |
| 2010s | 14.0% | 7.0% | 19.8% | 10 |
| 2020s | 28.1% | 20.7% | 35.8% | 5 |
Countries ranked near Malawi
More public sector data for Malawi
- Democracy, 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)
- Elected parliament, 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)
- Arms imports 2.00 million SIPRI trend indicator values (2024)
- Arms imports (SIPRI trend indicator values), per capita 0.9237 SIPRI trend indicator values per person (2022)
- Arms imports (SIPRI trend indicator values), per unit of GDP 0.0015 SIPRI trend indicator values per US$ of GDP (2022)
- Arms imports (SIPRI trend indicator values), annual growth rate -100 % change on previous year (2016)
Frequently asked questions
- What is interest payments in Malawi?
- Interest payments in Malawi was 35.8% in 2024, 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 35.8% in 2024.
- What is the lowest interest payments recorded in Malawi?
- The lowest recorded value was 7.0% in 2013.
- How does Malawi rank for interest payments?
- Malawi ranks 2nd out of 155 countries with data for 2024.
- Is interest payments rising or falling in Malawi?
- Over the last ten years it is up 103.5%. 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 revenue). Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
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CSV · JSON — 16 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 a percentage of revenue which includes all transactions that add to the amount of economic value of a unit or sector.