Reserve Bank of Malawi’s subsidiary, Export Development Fund (EDF), has registered a 52 percent drop in profit for the year ended December 31 2023.
Published audited financial statements for the year show that the company made a profit after tax of K9.7 billion, which is lower than the K20.3 billion reported in 2022.
The company has demonstrated a mixed performance in the year witnessed by an increase in current assets to K88.5 billion from K76 billion in 2022 and a jump in current liabilities to K37.8 billion from K21.9 billion.
In the statement, the fund indicates that the profitability was mainly driven by substantial recoveries from loan impairment provisions as well as its ability to create new quality businesses.
“In terms of operational performance, in 2023, the fund approved transactions worth K23.1 billion out of which K6.46 billion was disbursed.
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“These approved transactions are for projects in the following sectors: agro-processing which got 48 percent of total transactions, agriculture, 21 percent, tourism, 17 percent, mining 12 percent and manufacturing 2 percent. These projects once operational are expected to create at least 1,500 jobs and save about 120 jobs,” the statement reads.
EDF Public Relations Specialist Deliby Chimbalu said the fund seeks to continue fulfilling its mandate of providing financial resources and advisory services to drive export diversification and development of high-impact projects in Malawi.
She said the Fund will continue to provide innovative financial and non-financial solutions to unlock global market opportunities, support increased agricultural production and manufacturing of various goods and services as well as releasing financing to support project preparation activities.
“The lack of bankable projects continues to be one of the prominent bottlenecks to unlocking financing for transformative capital-intensive projects in the country.
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“Considering risks that come with private sector investments in such ventures, EDF has strategically positioned itself as that Development Finance institution (DFI), to de-risk such ventures by providing project preparation and financial advisory services,” Chimbalu said.
