Public Finance Management Reform in Malawi

Abstract

Malawi has implemented a series of structural adjustment programmes since the beginning of the 1980s without much success in terms of economic growth and poverty reduction. One of the explanations for the meagre results of structural adjustment programmes in developing countries is according to Rodrik (2004) inadequate focus on incentives: economists have not taken their economics seriously enough. In this report we study one component of Malawi’s structural adjustment programmes, public sector finance management reform (PFM) with an emphasis on the role of incentives in implementation and outcome of these reforms.