LegiStorm

Summary:

Malawi is a poor, landlocked country in southeastern Africa. A former British colony, Malawi transitioned from one-party rule to a democratic system in the early 1990s. It has since held a series of multi-party elections—though the most recent polls, held in 2014, featured some logistical shortcomings, limited violence, and a number of controversies, including a failed attempt by then-incumbent President Joyce Banda to annul the election. The race was ultimately won by Peter Mutharika, whose brother, Bingu wa Mutharika, served as president from 2004 until his death in 2012, when he was succeeded by Banda. Peter Mutharika took office in June 2014 after besting Banda in presidential elections that year. Malawi's economy is agriculturally centered, undiversified, and import-dependent for many inputs. Its gross domestic product (GDP) per capita ranks among the lowest in the world. A regional drought in 2015-2016 hit the domestic agricultural economy hard and left an estimated 6.7 million Malawians acutely food insecure as of early 2017. Malawi is heavily reliant on donor aid; in 2014, it ranked as the world's fifth most aid-dependent country or territory with respect to the amount of development assistance received relative to government expenditures. A major corruption scandal emerged during the Banda administration in 2013 and remains an ongoing political concern and an object of continuing policy and judicial action. It prompted many European and multilateral agency donors to withhold direct budget support to Malawi, and such holds continue. Nevertheless, many donors, including the United States, provide targeted development aid, including for social services, humanitarian needs, and infrastructure and public institutional development. U.S.-Malawi ties warmed following Malawi's democratic transition but faced strains during the 2004-2012 tenure of President Bingu wa Mutharika, whose administration was marred by semi-authoritarian leadership and human rights concerns. Relations improved markedly under Joyce Banda and have remained positive under President Peter Mutharika. U.S. development assistance has long been the main focus of U.S.-Malawian relations. Congressional interest has traditionally centered on such assistance, notably in the health sector, and on governance concerns. In recent years, State Department and U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) bilateral assistance to Malawi has ranged between $196 million (FY2014) and $261 million (FY2016). This was supplemented in FY2016 with an additional $102.6 million in disaster response funding, primarily for emergency food aid. The Obama Administration requested $195.6 million for FY2017, and Congress mandated that at least $56 million be allocated to Malawi, and that up to $10 million of this funding be made available for higher education programs. The Trump Administration requested $161.3 million for Malawi in FY2018, centered almost exclusively on health system aid. In recent years, a large portion of U.S. assistance to Malawi has been provided through the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and other health programs, including the President's Malaria Initiative (PMI) and the presidential Global Health Initiative (GHI). The United States has also provided assistance through the Feed the Future (FTF) initiative. Malawi has received some U.S. security assistance focused on military professionalization and peacekeeping capacity building. Malawi is eligible for trade benefits under the U.S. African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). The country was also awarded a five-year, $350 million Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) compact focused on electric power in January 2011, but the compact was temporarily suspended due to concerns over anti-democratic trends. It was reinstated in 2012 and is slated to be completed in September 2018.