Investment opportunities in Malawi have been put in place to catalyse incremental investments in productive sectors such as manufacturing, agriculture, tourism and mining. The Investors Guide clearly outlines a range incentives designed to attract productive investments.

Malawi's investment incentives include:

1. Corporate tax rate of 35 percent
2. Generous tax allowance including 40 percent on new buildings and machinery, an additional 15 percent allowance for investments in designated areas and up to 20 percent for used buildings and machinery as well as a 50 percent tax cut for qualifying training costs.
3. A 100 percent deduction for manufacturing company operating expenses in the first 18 months and
4. Indefinite loss carry forward to allow companies to take full advantage of tax allowances.

An important aspect of the Investment Promotion Act was the establishment of procedures for setting up Export Processing Zones (EPZ) in 1995. Incentives for establishing operations in an EPZ or manufacturing in bond for export include:

• No withholding tax on dividends
• No duty on capital equipment and raw materials
• No excise taxes on purchases of raw materials and packaging materials made in Malawi
• No value added taxes
• Transport tax allowances equal to 25 percent for EPZs
• Export tax allowance equal to 12 percent of export revenue for non-traditional exports (for manufacturing to bond only) and
• 00 percent duty-free importation of equipment and raw materials for those engaged exclusively in horticultural products for export
• Investors have free access to foreign exchange in Malawi, both for paying for imports and transferring financial payments abroad. This free access includes:
• No licensing requirements for importing foreign exchange
• Full repatriation of profits, dividends, investment capital and interest and principal payments for international loans
• Local and foreign investors have unrestricted access to local financing facilities and
• Interest rates are market-based and there are no direct-Government controls on credit.

As a further protection for foreign investments and the settlement of investment disputes, Malawi is a signatory to:

• International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes
• Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA)
• Bilateral Investment Guarantees and Protection Agreements.

Hosted @ Malawi SDNP