Export Development Fund (EDF) says that during the past five years it has invested about K35.8 billion in export-oriented ventures which brought in $98 million (about K171.5 billion) in returns.
In an e-mail response on Thursday, EDF spokesperson Deliby Chimbalu said that from 2021, EDF, a development finance institution wholly-owned by the Reserve Bank of Malawi (RBM), invested more than K31.1 billion in kwacha terms and more than $2.7 million (about K4.7 billion) for export-oriented projects in strategic export value chains, including coffee, chilli, crocodile skins, tobacco, mining and medicinal cannabis processing.
“Overall, EDF’s financing has supported projects that have generated about $98 million in foreign exchange between 2021 and 2025,” she said.
Chimbalu said that EDF ensures that the entities it supports have a comprehensive business plan to determine the viability of the project.
She said during the review period, it emerged that EDF more than doubled its support to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) by disbursing about K14.1 billion, up from about K6 billion, focusing on agro-processing, tourism and mining.
Chimbalu said agro-processing alone accounted for 56 percent of total disbursements, followed by tourism at 30 percent and mining at eight percent.
However, despite these advances, concerns persist over EDF’s coverage on SMEs with some stakeholders arguing that the fund only reaches elite group of enterprises.
In an interview, Small-scale Business Importers and Exporters Association secretary general Frank Mhango welcomed the growth in disbursements, but said EDF’s impact on SMEs remains limited.
“Most of the support seems to go to big players. SMEs only see programmes on paper. Access requirements, collateral and information are still barriers,” he said.
Mhango said there is a gap between policy and the grassroots, adding that EDF makes good promises, but many SMEs have neither been reached, trained nor financed.
“Access requirements, collateral and information are still barriers,” he said.
Scotland-based Malawian economist Velli Nyirongo said in an interview that EDF plays a catalytic role in easing financing constraints, but its impact on SME-led industrialisation and export diversification remains limited in scope.
“Many beneficiaries are concentrated in urban centres, while rural-based and informal SMEs, particularly women- and youth-led enterprises remain underserved,” he said.
EDF provides financial and advisory services to businesses engaged in production, value addition, exports, and trade-related infrastructure.
The fund was incorporated in 2012 to provide financial and advisory services to businesses in growth sectors of the economy, aimed at stimulating Malawi’s productive capacity as well as diversifying the economy.
EDF is also mandated to correct market failures and inefficient resource allocation by mobilising resources for financing export-oriented projects and export enterprises that arise from national development plans.
