The Bank of Mozambique (BoM) announced that the country’s trade balance deficit in the first half of this year totalled US$1.3 billion, a result that ‘reflects the slowdown in the negative balance of the Current Account (CA)’.
The central bank’s report, quoted by Lusa, indicated that the reduction in the CC deficit is associated with the 39.1 per cent slowdown in the negative balance of the goods account, justified by the 3.2 per cent increase in exports, compared to the 2.6 per cent decrease in imports.
‘The contraction in the CC deficit also resulted from the 16.7 per cent decrease in the negative balance of the services account, to a total of 325.2 million dollars, reflecting the decrease in demand for some services by residents, which are partly directed to meet the needs arising from the development of companies classified as major projects, especially those operating in natural gas prospecting and exploration,’ explained the BoM.
In addition, the institution noted in the report that net current transfers recorded a surplus of 497.6 million dollars, an annual growth of 19.5 per cent explained by the increase in private sector donations of around 22.1 per cent.
‘In light of the above, economic transactions between Mozambique and the rest of the world resulted in an overall surplus of 112 million dollars, which contributed to an increase in the monetary authority’s reserve assets, causing the balance of gross international reserves to stand at 3.7 billion dollars,’ it argued.
However, according to the report, Mozambique’s net debt position abroad ‘worsened’ by 257.1 million dollars compared to the result for the first quarter of this year, with the balance at the end of June totalling 71.5 billion dollars.
