Every President of Malawi since independence, from Hastings Kamuzu Banda to Peter Mutharika: their terms, parties, vice presidents, and how the national debt changed under each.
Malawi became independent on 6 July 1964 and a republic, with its own president, on 6 July 1966. Seven presidencies, held by six people, have followed.
How Malawi's public debt changed under every president since independence, measured the same way for all of them: as a share of the economy (GDP), and in US dollars and kwacha.
How this is measured: debt as a share of GDP at the year-end nearest each handover (IMF Global Debt Database, on today's GDP measure), converted to kwacha with World Bank GDP and to dollars at that year's exchange rate. Where the Ministry of Finance published a figure for the handover itself, that figure is used instead: end-June 2020 (Annual Public Debt Report 2019/20) and end-December 2025. October 2025 is an estimate between the Ministry's end-March and end-December 2025 figures. Kwacha amounts from different decades are not comparable because of inflation and devaluation; the share of GDP is. Presidents do not borrow alone: Parliament approves every budget, and droughts, aid flows and world prices shape the numbers. Debt relief under the HIPC initiative in 2006 explains most of the fall under Bingu wa Mutharika. Updated every month.
