Currency and formatting
- Currency
- Malawian Kwacha (MWK)
- Symbol
- MK — placed before the amount
- Decimal places
- 2
- Formatted example
- MK 123,456.78
- Thousands separator
- ,
- Decimal separator
- .
- Digit grouping
- threes (3)
- Live rate
- No central-bank source publishes MWK yet
Tax
- 0% — zero rated
Payment methods in Malawi
Roughly ordered by real-world use — not by what a card processor would prefer you offer.
- 01 card
- 02 airtel money
- 03 tnm mpamba
- 04 bank transfer
- 05 cash on delivery
Card schemes that work domestically: visa, mastercard. 3-D Secure is not standard; strong customer authentication is not legally mandated.
Locale
- Primary
- en-MW
- Official languages
- English, Nyanja
- Direction
- left-to-right
- Date format
- DD/MM/YYYY
- Measurement
- metric
- GDPR applies
- no
Phone numbers
- Calling code
- +265
- Mobile format
- +265 XXX XX XX XX
- Digits
- 9
Malawi: common questions
What currency does Malawi use?
Malawi uses the Malawian Kwacha (MWK), symbol MK. It uses 2 decimal places, formatted as MK 123,456.78.
How many decimal places does MWK have?
MWK has 2 decimal places. Charging with the wrong number of minor units is a 100× error, so this is worth getting right.
What is the VAT rate in Malawi?
The standard VAT rate in Malawi is 17.50%. Prices are displayed tax-inclusive.
What payment methods are used in Malawi?
The methods that matter in Malawi, in rough order of use: card, airtel money, tnm mpamba, bank transfer, cash on delivery.
What is the dialling code for Malawi?
Malawi's country calling code is +265. Mobile numbers are formatted +265 XXX XX XX XX (9 digits after the country code).
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