The World Bank (WB) warned Mozambique, last Friday, of the need to create jobs for a rapidly growing population, considering it an “urgent challenge” for the country.
“It is estimated that more than half a million people enter the labour force in Mozambique every year. So creating more and better jobs is an urgent challenge for the country,” said Fiseha Haile, World Bank senior economist in the country.
The organisation launched an update to its economic outlook bulletin in Maputo, in which it noted that there was great potential for job creation in the services area.
According to the World Bank, “Mozambique’s strong growth performance in recent decades has helped to reduce poverty in the country,” but “growth has not been inclusive enough.
At issue are the “strong dependence” on the extractive industry (with “limited links” to the economy in general) and the “low productivity of the agricultural sector, the main source of subsistence of the poorest,” the organisation noted.
On the positive side, it noted the package of economic acceleration measures announced by the Mozambican government in August 2022.
In the same context, the WB said that “reforms aimed at strengthening the role of the private sector and promoting access to funding by reducing the cost of bank loans, as well as providing credit guarantees for small businesses,” were needed.
In the document released in Maputo, the organisation forecast that the Mozambican economy would grow by 6 percent this year – in January it published a forecast that pointed to 5 percent.
Lusa
