In a meeting with Malawian President Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera on Thursday, IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva pledged to support the nation as it deals with economic difficulties and "unsustainable" public debt.
The East African country's administration has been in talks with the Washington-based crisis lender for months about its request for a programme of assistance to help stabilise the economy.
Georgieva claimed to have a "constructive" conversation with Chakwera "on the challenging economic scenario Malawi is facing" and to have pledged her "unwavering support" for the nation.
“I was impressed by the President’s unwavering commitment to forge ahead with ambitious reform efforts to help improve the lives of the Malawian people and to firmly restore macroeconomic stability, including tackling unsustainable public debt,” she said in a statement.
An IMF team is expected to visit the country “very soon to discuss next steps and explore options to address Malawi’s immediate financing needs and support its reform program,” she added.
The fund projects the country will see modest growth of 2.2 percent this year, but inflation is approaching 11 percent, and the government faces a growing debt burden and a high risk of debt distress.