Malawi's visa reversal could backfire

The cash-strapped country scrapped visa-free travel for 79 countries, including the US and UK, in a bid to shore up forex reserves

- Collins Mtika

Late last year, Malawi’s Finance Minister Joseph Mwanamvekha made an announcement in Parliament that risks unravelling years of economic strategy.

“Visa-free access to Malawi is being revoked with immediate effect and a visa application fee will apply on a reciprocity basis,” he told legislators.

With that statement, travellers from 79 countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Canada, Australia and the Netherlands, would face new barriers to entering the country.

The decision was a reversal of a policy introduced less than 10 months earlier. In February 2024, Malawi had lifted visa restrictions for those very nations, a landmark move that Mwanamvekha said at the time would “help Malawi become an attractive tourism destination and boost foreign currency flows”.

Former Tourism Minister Vera Kamtukule projected 1.1 million visitors in 2024, a strong rebound from the Covid-19 pandemic’s devastation when arrivals had plummeted by 80%.

The open door had begun to work. Now it was slamming shut again, not for geopolitical reasons, but for a far simpler and more desperate one: Malawi needed cash and it was running out of options.

By October 2024, the country’s foreign exchange reserves covered just 2.1 months of imports, well below the three-month minimum the government itself deems adequate.

In 2023 the Reserve Bank of Malawi held $400 million in reserves, down from $600 million in 2020. The Malawi kwacha has depreciated sharply as a result, inflating import costs by some 20% for major retailers. Exports total just $1 billion annually against imports of $3 billion.

In 2024, the International Monetary Fund terminated Malawi's extended credit facility early. Development partner funding, which had long propped up the budget, dropped by 43%, according to parliamentary opposition figures.