Context
Malawi is one of the poorest countries in the world. High government debt, low taxes and inefficient public spending limit the government’s efforts to improve living conditions.
Achieving long-term development in line with the ‘Malawi 2063’ strategy will require the Malawian Government to more effectively raise its own revenues, to improve its management of public expenditures and to tackle corruption more effectively.
Objective
The Malawian institutions responsible for managing public finances and reducing corruption raise, report on and protect public funds more effectively.
Approach
The project supports key institutions whose job is to manage public finances and tackle corruption and fraud. It advises them in five areas:
1. Domestic resource mobilisation
2. Budget execution
3. Control and oversight of public finances
4. Investigation and prosecution
5. Asset recovery
Institutional cooperation and the digitalisation of work processes are cross-cutting elements of the advisory services provided.
The project helps the Malawian financial authorities with special audits and the provision of information for taxpayers in order to mobilise domestic revenues. To assist with proper budget execution, the project is supporting, among other measures, the introduction of a new Integrated Financial Management Information System (IFMIS). This is a system for planning, executing and reporting payments.
To improve financial accountability, the project is helping to incorporate regulatory bodies. These follow up on recommendations from internal and external financial audits in public institutions. One focus of anti-corruption efforts is on improving the ability to investigate and prosecute.
The project is implemented as a Joint Action between the German Federal Government and the European Union.