Mozambique’s Economic Climate Indicator (ICE) recorded a recovery in the last quarter of 2020, but the covid-19 kept it below the values recorded a year earlier, the Mozambican National Statistics Institute (INE) announced today.
In the monthly balance, the ECI rose from 86.3 points in November 2020 to 90.3 in December, still below 98.6, the average balance of the indicator measured monthly since 2004.
“The Economic Climate Indicator (ECI), a synthetic expression of business confidence, rose slightly in the fourth quarter of 2020 compared to the previous quarter, a situation influenced by the registration of positive outlooks for employment and demand, thus conferring absonant hope for the coming months,” writes INE.
However, “compared to the same period in the previous year, the ECI fell substantially,” it adds.
On the other hand, while December saw an easing of restrictions on economic activity, in January the government was forced to back down and announce new limitations due to the large increase in cases, hospitalisations and deaths from covid-19.
The maximum value of the ECI was recorded in February 2015 with 104.3 points, while the minimum occurred in July 2020 with 75.5, according to the bulletin released today, which makes slight corrections to those values (previously 104.1 and 74.8, respectively).
The ECI is part of the bulletin of Confidence and Economic Climate indicators, a monthly publication on the economic situation in Mozambique, compiled based on a survey also conducted every month by the INE to companies in the non-financial sector.
“The study expresses the opinion of economic agents about the evolution and outlook for their activity, particularly on employment, demand, orders, prices, production, sales and limitations to activity,” the Mozambican statistical authority explains.
