Malawi presses AfDB and South Korea for fresh budget support in Seoul

Malawi’s finance minister has stepped up efforts to secure additional grants and concessional financing through talks in Seoul, as the country seeks to ease persistent foreign exchange shortages without adding to its debt stock.

Joseph Mwanamvekha, the finance minister, held separate meetings with Sidi Ould Tah, president of the African Development Bank, and Jinsung Moon, South Korea’s deputy minister of finance and economy, on the sidelines of a ministerial gathering in the South Korean capital.

The discussions centred on expanding budget support, unlocking concessional financing and securing technical assistance — all without exacerbating the debt burden facing one of the world’s poorest economies.

Mwanamvekha described his talks with the AfDB as “fruitful”, suggesting the multilateral lender could extend additional funding beyond the $20.5mn, or roughly MK34bn, in budget support it approved recently.

Separately, discussions with South Korean officials focused on grants, loans and investment opportunities across agriculture, mining, digital technology and artificial intelligence, with Seoul signalling continued backing for African partners including Malawi.

The engagements took place at the eighth Korea-Africa Economic Cooperation ministerial conference, jointly organised by South Korea’s finance ministry and the AfDB.

Malawi has faced acute dollar shortages in recent years, a strain that has complicated import financing and weighed on the kwacha, making concessional external support an increasingly important lever for the government’s fiscal management.