Africa-Press – Mozambique. Mozambique’s business robustness index, presented on Thursday in Maputo by the CTA, rose in the third quarter, after having stagnated in the previous two periods, but businesspeople warned that the Mozambican economy is still at “two speeds”.
“This performance, although higher than the previous quarter, is quite fragile,” said the president of Mozambique’s Confederation of Economic Associations, Agostinho Vuma, when presenting the results of this index, measured quarterly by the CTA.
This index, he explained, rose to 29 points in the third quarter, compared to 28 in the previous one, reflecting a “slight improvement, after stagnation” in the previous two quarters.
“The assessment of this last quarter undoubtedly took place in a context in which the economy is travelling at two speeds. One speed is driven by the major projects in the extractive sector, which is registering extraordinary growth (…) The other speed is driven by the traditional sectors of our economy, where there is very slight, if not negative, growth, particularly in manufacturing, fishing and construction/real estate,” said Vuma.
Among the reasons for this performance, he pointed to the late start to agricultural trading, “due to the effects of the floods that affected access roads and the commercial network that transports these products”, which also had consequences in terms of “high logistics costs”.
Another justification is the “increase in financial charges with banks” by entrepreneurs, namely high interest rates, as a result of the change in monetary policy by the Bank of Mozambique.
Analysing the index, Agostinho Vuma also pointed out that in this period hiring by companies was essentially limited to part-time or temporary contracts.
Businesspeople also expressed their expectation with the announcement that construction of the liquefied natural gas plant by French oil company TotalEnergies in Cabo Delgado, suspended in 2021 after the terrorist attacks in the region, will resume this year, and hoped that Mozambican companies would join in.
With the new timetable now on the table, the start of gas production in a 20 billion dollar project could take place in 2028, according to TotalEnergies.
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