The International Finance Corporation (IFC), the investment arm of the World Bank, said on Thursday 16 May that it was interested in financing the biofuels sector in Mozambique, given the country’s high potential.
According to Agência de Informação de Moçambique, the interest was expressed by the IFC’s executive director, Makhtar Diop, minutes after an audience granted to him by the Mozambican President, Filipe Nyusi, in Kigali, the capital of Rwanda, on the sidelines of the Africa CEO Forum.
‘It was a pleasure to meet with the Mozambican President and talk about co-operation between Mozambican and the IFC. We discussed various aspects, especially investments in the biofuels sector,’ said Makhtar Diop, speaking to the press minutes after the end of an audience granted to him by the Mozambican statesman.
According to the source, no figures were given in terms of the volume of investment, but he assured that the parties were committed to developing concrete programmes through the national private sector to explore this energy segment, looking at the potential that the country offers in the sector.
‘We’re not talking about figures, because that will depend on the projects that the country will present through the private sector. After that, we will immediately make investments in the biofuels sector.’
Makhtar Diop
The IFC believes that biofuel projects are viable with strong government support, through the adoption of policies adapted to the Mozambican context, in a clear reference to tax incentives to promote the production of the raw material with a view to ensuring competitive prices for the product.
The source also pointed to the World Bank’s commitment to supporting developing countries to materialise impact projects in the agriculture and energy sectors, supporting the country’s efforts to provide electricity for the population, as a central pillar on which various other economic initiatives can materialise.

Makhtar Diop emphasised that the IFC is looking closely at the infrastructure sector to support agricultural production and its entire value chain in Mozambique, which is considered the basis for the country’s economic growth.
On the subject, Onório Manuel, general manager of the Beluluane Industrial Park (MozParks), said: ‘we are here to attract investment and there couldn’t be a better opportunity like this in Kigali’.
It should be noted that in March 2022, the Italian oil company Eni and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MADER), through the Institute of Cotton and Oilseeds of Mozambique, IP (IAOM, IP), signed an agreement for cooperation and development of agricultural projects in Mozambique, with the aim of producing oilseeds and vegetable oils that will be used as raw material for the production of biofuels.
The production of modern bioenergy in Mozambique is at an embryonic stage, but appears to be a promising long-term source of bioenergy with the potential to minimise the environmental impacts and security concerns represented by the current dependence on fossil fuels.