A senior Malawi government official has been shot and severely wounded in an attack the presidency says was aimed at silencing his efforts to combat corruption, local newspapers report.

The Nyasa Times reported on Monday that police had "important leads" they were pursuing after the budget director in the Ministry of Finance, Paul Mphwiyo, was shot on Friday.

The Maravi Post quoted police as saying he had been shot in the face, shoulder and chest. The newspaper added that Mphwiyo, who had been trained in the United States and was appointed by President Joyce Banda, had overhauled government financial systems and had made himself unpopular by cancelling "dubious contracts".

The Times quoted Banda's office as saying the attack "was not just any other robbery but a planned and targeted attack aimed at silencing him and the government in the fight against high levels of corruption and fraud".