The Association of Commerce, Industry and Services (ACIS), in partnership with the Mozambique Stock Exchange (BVM) and Moza Banco, held this Thursday, February 16, in Maputo, a breakfast on economy and business on the theme “Macroeconomic Prospects for 2023 and Sustainability of Mozambican Companies”.
In a strong debate that arose on the occasion about interest rates, the resident representative of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Mozambique, Alexis Mayer, said that the national business community must see the monetary policy as an instrument to safeguard the value of the metical and macroeconomic stability.
“The issue of interest rates has always been debated, and I have responded that this is formed by a number of conditions. The monetary policy of a serious central bank is based on the following factors: debt levels, sovereign risk, population structure and financial risks of a country,” said Alexis Mayer. He continued: “After that there are cyclical issues, such as inflationary risk issues, and in a small country with a high debt level, monetary policy is also an instrument to bring stability. So, one has to see monetary policy in this global context, to safeguard the value of the metical and macroeconomic stability.
Alexis Mayer also referred that “sometimes, we hear that monetary policy should be lower, but if the interest rates were lower than necessary to maintain the stability of the metical, we would have the ‘no stability of the metical’, we would have a high devaluation and this would certainly bring strong constraints to the business community”, he said, and then reminded that “stability comes with a cost, this is the reality, there is no way around it. Some countries with populist governments try to reverse this logic, but then they get burned.
During the event, the IMF representative said that Mozambique has recorded robust growth in the last two decades and pointed to the performance of agriculture and services and private investment in the extractive sector as the main determinants of growth.
The IMF diplomat noted, however, that growth has been slowing and poverty and inequality remain high.
With over 150 participants, the Breakfast on Economics And Business of the Association of Commerce, Industry and Services also included the interventions of the Mozambique Stock Exchange and Moza Banco, which presented capital market solutions and financing lines available for companies.
The event brought together several relevant actors in the development of the country, with emphasis on representatives of the public sector, agencies supporting the development of the private sector, diplomatic institutions, among others.
