This ROSC assessment of corporate governance in Malawi benchmarks law and practice against the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Principles of Corporate Governance and covers public interest entities (including public limited companies, financial institutions, and parastatal companies) with special focus on the companies listed on the MSE. This report should be read in conjunction with the Accounting and Auditing ROSC Malawi, which reviews issues related to accounting, auditing, and financial reporting in more detail. Growth in 2006 has been estimated at 6.5 percent. Inflation and bank lending rates have declined significantly over the past few years. Malawi qualified for debt relief under the World Bank s Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative in 2006. The business environment has improved, and the private sector is optimistic about the future; the Malawi Business Survey 2006 conducted by the Malawi Confederation of the Chambers of Commerce and Industry (MCCI) rated the business environment good to very good with better expectations in the next 12 months. The Malawi Growth and Development Strategy (MGDS) 2006-2011 sets a future growth target of more than 6 percent annually for the five-year period, which will increase per capita income to US$450 by the end of 2011. For this purpose, Malawi is seeking to increase domestic and foreign investment.