Association calls for national fund to strengthen industrial sector in Mozambique

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Association calls for national fund to strengthen industrial sector in Mozambique

12:37 CAT | 27 Feb 2020

Photo: O País

The president of the Industrial Association of Mozambique (AIMO), Rogério Samo Gudo, said yesterday that Mozambican industry was “dying”, suggesting a national fund to leverage the sector.

“Industry has always been dying in the country, and we have to recognise that. Over the past ten years, industry’s contribution to GDP has been steadily decreasing. In 2017, it was 11.7% and now we are talking about 8.7% [of GDP],” Gudo said in Maputo yesterday at the inauguration of the association’s governing bodies.

To reverse this scenario, Samo Gudo argued for the establishment of a national industry fund, leveraging industries in terms training and certification, and also innovation, particularly at a time when the country is preparing for major gas projects in the north of the country.

“We want to learn from the extractive industry as regards training,” he added.

AIMO is more than 30 years old and represents more than 300 entities, from mining associations, salt production, cotton, metallurgy, chemicals, rubber, food and utensils, based all over Mozambique.

A study by the Confederation of Associations of Mozambique (CTA) prepared and published in 2019, points out that manufacturing industry in Mozambique has shrunk significantly in the last 10 years, and in 2017 its contribution to GDP was down to 8.7%, against the 11.8% recorded in 2008.

This downfall is explained by, among other factors, “the suffocation” of micro industries, which make up more than 60% of Mozambique’s Industry as a result of the country’s economic situation and consequent constraints on competitiveness.

Around 48 micro and small and medium enterprises in the industrial sector closed their doors in 2018 alone, resulting in an estimated loss of 1.8% in sector production, a significant figure considering the sector’s falling contribution to GDP, the CTA notes.

Source: Lusa