Mozambique’s trade deficit widens by almost 90% in 2018

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Mozambique’s trade deficit widens by almost 90% in 2018

3:24 CAT | 02 Sep 2019

File photo: O País

Mozambique’s trade deficit in 2018 stood at US$1.932 billion, an increase of 89.38% or US$911.7 million compared to 2017, according to the National Statistics Institute (INE).

Mozambique’s INE, in its report on Foreign Trade Statistics – Mozambique 2018, said that the 2017 trade deficit of US$1.02 billion was the most favourable since the country’s independence in 1975.

In 2018 Mozambique exported products worth US$5.012 billion, an increase of 6.1% from US$4.725 billion in 2017 and imported goods of US$6.944 billion, an increase of 20%, up 9% from US$5.745 billion in 2017.

INE also reported that, excluding major projects, exports stood at US$1.794 billion (up 19.1% compared to 2017) while imports reached US$5.953 billion (up 18.1% over 2017).

Of the 130 countries receiving goods from Mozambique, India (27.3%), South Africa (17.4%), the Netherlands (12.2%), China (4.8%) and Singapore (4.6%) stand out.

In terms of the structure of imports by countries, out of the 206 countries of origin of goods that entered the country in 2018, the most important were the same as in 2017: South Africa (27.8%), China (11.5%). ), United Arab Emirates (7.5%), Netherlands (7.5%) and India (7.1%).

The main groups of exported goods were Mineral Fuels, worth US$2.304 billion or 46% of the total (down 5.0 percentage points compared to 2017) and Common Metals with US$1351 billion (26.9%).

INE highlighted the fact that this product group totalled 72.9% of goods sold abroad, which shows the high dependence and poor diversification of exports.

The main groups of imported goods were Mineral Fuels with a value of US$1.664 billion corresponding to 23.1% of the total, Machinery and Appliances with US$1.332 billion (16.3%) and Agricultural Products with US$872.6 million (12.2%).

Source: Macauhub