Industry’s share of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) fell from 8.6 per cent to 7.1 per cent between 2017 and 2023 in Mozambique, against an average of 12 per cent in the southern African region. According to the private sector and the United Nations, this performance demonstrates the low levels of industrialisation and robustness in the country’s economic system.
According to the President of the Confederation of Mozambican Economic Associations (CTA), Agostinho Vuma, the fall in industrialisation is due to various factors, such as weak infrastructure, high production costs, a high tax burden and low access to finance.
‘There is a lack of robust initiatives to focus on the industrialisation of primary sectors, such as agro-livestock and manufacturing,’ he said, quoted by Carta de Moçambique.
To reverse the situation, the private sector proposed launching lines of financing, greater transparency and competitiveness in the distribution of opportunities, access to and sharing of information on business opportunities and the identification and development of production chain capacities.
For its part, the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) explained that the reduction in industrialisation levels is associated with poor business facilitation in logistics, the communications system and a lack of alignment in training.
The organisation’s representative in Mozambique, Jaime Comiche, pointed out that total industrial production, divided by all Mozambican citizens, is only 45 dollars, against the recommended two thousand dollars.
‘According to the figures, we can say that we still have a long way to go, so we need to invest in incorporating low-complexity technology and increase the quality and quantity of graduates in key areas for development,’ he emphasised.
