Consultancy Oxford Economics Africa will revise Mozambique’s economic growth forecast to around 2%, due to the 3.3% expansion in the third quarter, the strongest record since before the pandemic.
“After a slow start to the year, the economy gained traction in the second half of 2021, and the third quarter turned out to be the strongest in terms of GDP growth since the second quarter of 2019,” the analysts write in a commentary on gross domestic product (GDP) figures, which report 3.36% growth from July to September this year.
The Oxford Economics Africa analysts point out that “the acceleration of production at Vale’s Moatize mine, underpinned by an improvement in exports of other commodities, and the reduction of covid-19 containment measures have breathed life into the economy.”
“The latest GDP figures will lead us to increase our growth forecast of 1.8% in the next revision of estimates, we still foresee the economy accelerating to more than 2.5% in 2022, in a context of increased exports of raw materials, sustained by the start of natural gas production in the Rovuma basin, in Eni’s project,” they add.
Mozambique’s GDP grew 3.36% in the third quarter, accelerating the upward trend recorded since January, the National Statistics Institute (INE) announced.
“The Gross Domestic Product at market prices showed a positive variation of 3.36% in the third quarter of 2021, when compared to the same period of 2020, making an accumulated growth of 1.78%,” reads the note on the quarterly national accounts.
The figures leave GDP 32 basis points away from the target set by the State Budget for this year (2.1%) and reinforce the sign of recovery in the face of the crisis caused by the covid-19 pandemic.
“The performance of economic activity in the third quarter of 2021 is attributed primarily to the primary sector which grew by 4.78%,” driven mainly by mining with a jump of 5.01%, INE noted.
