During the 19th edition of the Annual Private Sector Conference (CASP) taking place in Maputo, Yvonne Mhango, chief economist at the Bloomberg Africa financial information agency, highlighted Mozambique’s promising growth in relation to other African countries, anticipating a significant increase driven by the non-mining sector and hydrocarbons.
The analysis began with the global inflation scenario, in which Yvonne Mhango pointed to a slowing trend, especially in the advanced markets. ‘We are seeing a significant change in the inflation cycle. In the advanced markets, inflation is slowing down and getting closer to the targets set, which is a positive sign,’ she explained. This change is the result of aggressive monetary policies, especially in the United States, which foresee reductions in interest rates.
Turning to the African scenario, the economist pointed out that although the advanced economies are moving towards stabilisation, the emerging markets are facing challenges with substantially higher inflation rates. ‘This complicates the economic outlook for these markets, including many African countries,’ she said.
Focusing on Mozambique, Yvonne Mhango offered a positive outlook, emphasising the country’s growth potential. ‘Growth of 3.8 per cent is forecast for this year, driven by a series of reforms and investments in infrastructure and the non-mining sector,’ she pointed out. ‘This growth is remarkable, especially considering the previous economic adversities due to internal and external factors,’ she added.
The expert also touched on debt management in Mozambique, mentioning the high level of sovereign debt vulnerability, but with the prospect of improvement. ‘The measures being taken point to a stabilisation of the debt over the next few years,’ she said, stressing the importance of prudent fiscal management.
In addition, Mozambican inflation was highlighted as relatively low, at around 4 per cent, ‘which is enviable compared to other countries in the region’, said the Bloomberg economist, explaining that ‘this stability is the result of an effective restrictive monetary policy by the Bank of Mozambique’.
The presentation concluded on a note of cautious optimism, with the economist reiterating the importance of Mozambique continuing its economic reforms and ‘maintaining political stability to ensure that the benefits of growth are sustainable and widely distributed’.
This edition of CASP, organised by the Confederation of Economic Associations (CTA), in partnership with the government, aims to reflect ‘on the progress and challenges of the Package of Economic Acceleration Measures and to debate the conditions of the business environment, in order to make the country more competitive’. Projects valued at 75.8 billion meticals (1.7 billion dollars) will also be discussed.
Taking place under the theme ‘Investments and Business in the Environment of Economic Acceleration Measures: Challenges and Opportunities’, the three-day event (15, 16 and 17 May) will include 80 foreign entrepreneurs, more than 4,000 in-person participants and 20,000 virtual ones.
According to a CTA press release, there are also more than 40 national and foreign speakers and delegations from more than 12 countries, such as Mauritius, South Africa, Angola, Brazil, Portugal, the Netherlands, France, Italy and Zimbabwe, among others.