Firms want preferential tax to list on local stock market
Malawi Confederation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry (MCCCI) says introducing a preferential tax for companies planning to list on the Malawi Stock Exchange (MSE) could help attract more firms to list.
In its 2025/26 National Budget Proposal, MCCCI chief executive officer Daisy Kambalame urged the Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs to consider introducing a preferential corporate tax of 25 percent for a period of up to three years upon listing as a company raises new capital for the business.

She said: “There are currently only 16 companies that have been listed on the Malawi Stock Exchange since its establishment in 1994.
“This places MSE as one of the smallest in the region in terms of the number of listed companies.”
Licensed under the Financial Services Act 2010 and operating under the Securities Act 2010 and the Companies Act 2013, the 16-counter MSE has been in existence since 1994, but started equity trading in November 1996 when it first listed National Insurance Company Limited, now Nico Holdings plc.
Todate, the number of listed companies has increased to 16, with three firms listed in the past five years to 2021.
MSE chief executive officer John Kamanga, in an interview on Tuesday, observed that the reduced tax rate of 25 percent will attract more companies to list as this will act as incentive through tax relief.
On government revenue side, he said the likelihood of paying more tax is high as tax compliance is much guaranteed because of the surveillance and compliance enforcement placed on them by the local shares market.
“It is, therefore, a double edged benefit to the company, but also to government on more tax compliant and collection,” he said.
In Malawi, MSE is central to the capital market.
Treasury concedes that the problem of the capital market lies predominantly on the supply side, with the attention now placed on restoring the balance between the supply and demand side to ensure that the MSE is able to attract new listings and enhance market liquidity.
The Financial Sector Development Strategy III seeks to encourage State-owned enterprises (including local authorities) with good balance sheets to issue corporate papers (both short- and long-term) as an alternative to bank financing to increase the number and size of debt instruments available on the capital market.
Reads the strategy in part: “The government will continue working with the private sector in public-private partnerships (PPP) and seek the indulgence of the MSE in the PPP initiatives. “As these initiatives succeed, there will be increased investment opportunities for the public when these companies seek listings on the stock exchange.”
The MSE has three platforms, namely the main board which caters for equity securities for larger and well established companies, Alternative Capital Market (Edgex Board) for equity securities for small and medium enterprises and Debt Market specifically for issuers of debt instruments.
On the Debt Market, the MSE listed the first corporate bond by MyBucks Banking Corporation now Centenary Bank Limited and Malawi Government Treasury Notes.
However, there was no issuing of corporate papers both short- and long-term by State agencies as well as listings on the Edgex Board with regard to SMEs.