The National Planning Commission was established through an Act of Parliament in 2017 with two main mandates.

1. To coordinate the development of long and medium term national development plans for Malawi including the flagship projects that would operationalise them.
2. To oversee the implementation of those plans and coordinate the efforts of different stakeholders in achieving common objectives defined in the overall national development agenda.

The functions of the National Planning Commission are as follows:

1. To coordinate the development of long and medium term national development plans for Identify Malawi’s socio-economic development priorities and formulate the national vision and strategy for social and economic goals taking into account the country’s resource potential and comparative advantage;
2. Oversee the implementation of long-term national vision and strategies and the medium-term development plans;
3. Formulate innovative and progressive flagship projects and programmes for implementation in line with the national vision and strategies;
4. Identify and commission research on any matter the Commission deems relevant to the attainment of the objects of this Act;
5. Engage relevant individuals and institutions in all sectors of the economy in the conduct of its functions under this Act;
6. Apprise the President and the National Assembly annually on the progress made with regard to the implementation of plans, programmes and projects;
7. Perform any other functions in relation to National planning as it may deem appropriate for achieving the purposes of this Act.