Reserve Bank of Malawi (RBM) has given a 15 day ultimatum to local exporters with over 120 days of unreconciled export proceeds to bring the forex, or face legal consequences.

RBM Governor, MacDonald Mwale, has said this in a statement which has announced that repatriation of export proceeds now falls within 120 days, citing the enactment of Foreign Exchange Act of 2025.

He warns that non-compliant exporters will face monetary penalties as well as deregistration.

"In accordance with the Foreign Exchange Act, 2025 an exporter who fails to repatriate export proceeds within 120 days shall be liable to a monetary penalty equal to 150 percent of the value of the goods or services whose proceeds are not repatriated to Malawi," reads part of the statement.

Dr. Mwale states that uncompliant exporters to the monetary penalties commits an offence, attracting a fine of K200,000,000 and imprisonment for up to seven years.

Commenting on this, economic expert Hannock Ngwata, commends the directive saying it will starve parallel forex market and in turn strengthen the local kwacha currency.

"If properly implemented this will give the government more control in managing the balance of payment pressure," he notes.

Another economist, Gowokani Chijere Chirwa, emphasizes that the benefits of the move only be reaped, if there will be teamwork and stringency in enforcement.

He argues. "In Malawi we have good policies, but they do not yield anything due to poor enforcement."

Currently, forex shortages have crippled various sectors of the economy, a development that has negatively affected prices of good and services on the market.