Employers’ Confederation questions public sector’s “appetite” for running businesses in Mozambique

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Employers’ Confederation questions public sector’s “appetite” for running businesses in Mozambique

1:56 CAT | 06 Jun 2018

Photo: O País

The Confederation of Mozambican Economic Associations (CTA) questions the public sector’s “appetite” for conducting business, chairman of the public-private dialogue body Agostinho Vuma says.

“We are worried about the public sector’s tendency and appetite for doing business, rather than promoting private sector participation,” the boss of the employers’ association said in a speech on Tuesday.

While highlighting various advances in the dialogue with public entities such as allowing changes in regulations and removing barriers in agriculture and tourism, obstacles remain.

According to Vuma, in a country like Mozambique, “where the State holds the main natural resources, the private sector’s participation in the exploitation of these resources remains dependent on the state’s performance”.

On the other hand, at the fiscal level, CTA fears that “the need to mobilise more financial resources to finance public spending becomes an incentive to introduce measures that contrast with the idea of creating an attractive investment framework”.

At the sectoral level, Vuma warns of the jeopardy to which transport, logistics and other services are exposed because of legal issues.

“There is a growing incentive today for companies operating in transportation and logistics in Mozambique to register in neighbouring countries so as to be in the same line of competitiveness with companies in the region,” he added.

Concerning the current CTA management team’s first year of activity, Vuma addressed part of his speech to “agribusiness as a priority of the triennium”.

Classifying it as a “top priority”, Vuma stressed that the CTA is “working with all operators, seeking a shift in paradigm, towards one where private enterprise can thrive”.

As for the agriculture sector specifically, CTA has “already mapped out many small and medium-sized farmers and producer associations, in order to establish connections within the value chain of production, processing and marketing, so that we may achieve the success we all strive for in this sector,” he concluded.

Source: Lusa