The Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs is hopeful of collecting over K26 billion in dividends from State- Owned Enterprises (SOEs) during the 2025- 26 financial year.
Deputy Director of Public Finance Management Systems Edwin Visabwe expressed confidence in achieving the target, citing improved performance by SOEs in the previous financial year.
He said the Treasury expects dividends to more than double in the current financial year.
According to the 2025-26 budget statement presented by Finance Minister Simplex Chithyola Banda in February, SOEs remitted over K13.5 billion in dividends to the government during the 2024-2025 financial year.
“Paying dividends symbolises good performance of most government institutions. This is what we expect of the government’s performance because we don’t want these institutions to continue relying on government bailouts when they have a mandate to execute and perform on their own,” Visabwe said.
He added that the Treasury is confident SOEs will meet the K26 billion targets, supported by anticipated profits and surplus generation across institutions.
“We’ve conducted extensive sensitisation on the Public Finance Management Act (2022), which promotes sound financial practices. Most institutions have responded positively, boosting our confidence in achieving the target,” he said.
The 2023-24 Consolidated Report for State-Owned Enterprises in Malawi, released in March 2025, showed marked improvement, with SOEs recording surpluses of K19.32 billion in 2023 and K38.59 billion in 2024.
Economist Alick Nyasulu welcomed the dividend remittances as a positive step but cautioned that the ambitious target could be impacted by uncontrollable factors.
“Therefore, sound and good corporate practices that give priority to Malawians than any individual or partisan interests remain key,” Nyasulu said.
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