The Reserve Bank of Malawi has issued a final warning to exporters who have failed to repatriate export proceeds, announcing that legal action will follow if compliance is not achieved by the end of January.
In a notice signed by Deputy Governor for Economics and Regulation Henry Mathanga, the central bank said the move follows repeated reminders that have gone unheeded by several exporters with significant outstanding balances.
The bank cited the Foreign Exchange Act of 2025 and the Foreign Exchange (Repatriation of Export Proceeds) Directive of 2025, which require all exporters of goods and services to repatriate export earnings to Malawi within 120 days from the date of export.
Under the law, exporters who fail to remit proceeds within the prescribed period are presumed to have received the funds unless they can prove otherwise to the satisfaction of the Reserve Bank.
The legislation further provides that non-compliance constitutes an offence punishable by a monetary penalty equivalent to 150 percent of the value of the unrepatriated export proceeds.
The Reserve Bank published a list of 25 exporters who have neither repatriated nor reconciled their export earnings, with total overdue and unreconciled proceeds amounting to approximately US$16.56 million.
The bank has set 31 January 2026 as the final deadline for compliance, warning that failure to repatriate and reconcile the outstanding amounts by that date will result in legal action without any further notice.
