According to the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) World Economic Outlook report, Mozambique will grow by 7 per cent this year, in line with the government’s latest projections.
The Mozambican government had already revised upwards its economic growth projections for this year. In other words, two percentage points above the target of 5 per cent set in the Economic and Social Plan and State Budget (PESOE) for 2023 and clearly above the figure recorded in 2012, which was 4.2 per cent. The IMF’s World Economic Outlook report seems to confirm the government’s optimism, maintaining the forecast of 7% GDP growth in 2023.
If this estimate is confirmed, and according to the data in the same report, this means that Mozambique will be the Sub-Saharan African country with the highest economic growth this year, more than double the average of the 46 countries in the region, which will have 3.3 per cent. In the regional top five, the DRC (6.7 per cent), Ivory Coast and Rwanda (6.2 per cent) and Ethiopia (6.1 per cent) follow, as DE had already said.
As for the major economies, Nigeria’s growth was modest at 2.9 per cent, Angola’s 1.3 per cent and, above all, South Africa’s 0.9 per cent. In the other countries of the Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries (CPLP), Guinea-Bissau, with 4.5 per cent, and Cape Verde, with 4.4 per cent, are above the average for sub-Saharan Africa, while São Tomé and Príncipe, with 0.5 per cent, and Equatorial Guinea, with -6.2 per cent, are the two worst performers in the region.
The 10 most dynamic African economies in 2023
Libya, 12.5% (-9.6% in 2022)
Mozambique, 7% (4.2% in 2022)
DRC, 6.7% (8.9% in 2022)
Ivory Coast, 6.2% (6.7% in 2022)
Ethiopia, 6.1% (6.4% in 2022)
Guinea, 5.9% (4.3% in 2022)
Gambia, 5.6% (4.3% in 2022)
Benin, 5.5% (6.3% in 2022)
Togo, 5.4% (5.8% in 2022)
Tanzania, 5.2% (4.7% in 2022)
Source: World Economic Outlook, IMF (October 2023)
At African and global level, the performance of the Mozambican economy is equally remarkable. If the IMF’s forecasts are confirmed, the country will be the second fastest growing on the continent (after Libya with 12.5 per cent) and the fifth fastest in the world, after Guyana (38.4 per cent), Libya (which is recovering from a sharp drop of -9.6 per cent in 2022), Samoa with 8 per cent, Fiji with 7.5 per cent and Armenia with the same percentage. This growth is clearly above the world average of 3 per cent and that of major economic powers such as China (5 per cent) or India (6.3 per cent)
The five fastest growing economies in the world in 2023
Guyana, 38.4%
Libya, 12.5%
Samoa, 8%
Fiji, 7.5%
Mozambique and Armenia, 7%
World Economic Outlook, IMF (October 2023)
