Africa-Press – Mozambique. On Sunday, consulting firm Oxford Economics said that after Mozambique’s 5% growth, the economy will slow to 4.5% this year despite the expected 2.5% increase in natural gas production.
“We anticipate that slower natural gas production this year, of 2.5%, will contribute to a slowdown in economic growth to 4.5% this year,” wrote the Oxford Economics analysts in a comment on last year’s economic expansion of 5%.
“Despite the adversity of having had to deal with Cyclone Fredy, the longest cyclone ever recorded, and the ongoing violence in Cabo Delgado, the economy managed to advance in 2023 thanks to the increase in offshore liquefied natural gas production,” says the African department of this British consultancy.
In a commentary sent to investors, to which Lusa has had access, Oxford Economics said that oil company TotalEnergies will return to Cabo Delgado later this semester but warned that the proximity of the elections could increase the attacks and “cast a cloud over the elections” scheduled for the end of the year.
Mozambique’s president said on Wednesday that TotalEnergies should have resumed operations in Cabo Delgado by now, describing France’s call for citizens of that country not to travel to some parts of the province as a “diplomatic decision”.
“For me [the resumption of the project] should have been yesterday or last month,” said Filipe Nyusi, questioned by journalists about the security situation in Cabo Delgado in the face of new rebel incursions, moments after chairing a government meeting in Pemba, the provincial capital.
The French Embassy in Mozambique is appealing to French citizens not to travel to the cities of Mocímboa da Praia, Pemba and Palma, in Cabo Delgado (north), due to the “terrorist threat”.
“Due to the presence of a terrorist and kidnapping threat in the towns of Mocímboa da Praia, Pemba and Palma, it is strongly recommended not to travel to these towns, as well as to travel on the roads linking these towns,” reads a message to travellers published a week ago by the French Embassy in Maputo.
“It wasn’t the project owner who spoke. It was a diplomat, from what I heard,” said the head of state on Wednesday.
According to the Bank of Mozambique, the 5.36% growth in the last quarter of last year compares with 5.92% in the previous quarter, which followed increases of 4.67% in the April to June period and 4.17% from January to March, which translates into average economic growth in 2023 of just over 5% of GDP.
The slight reduction of 0.56 percentage points compared to the previous quarter is essentially the result of “less accentuated growth in the extractive industry” and the “negative performance of the manufacturing industry”, explained the central bank in mid-February, quoting INE.
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