Malawi's central bank kept its benchmark lending rate unchanged at 27 percent on Friday saying it would continue to monitor food inflation and economic growth in the midst of a severe drought that has ravaged its key agriculture sector.

The bank said that while inflation had come down in recent months, this was mainly due to non-food inflation, and that risks to consumer prices remained on the upside.

Malawi's consumer inflation slowed to 22.1 percent year-on-year in March from 23.4 percent in February, but remains at elevated levels which the government is keen to bring down.