Corruption cost the Mozambican economy US$5 billion between 2002 and 2014

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Corruption cost the Mozambican economy US$5 billion between 2002 and 2014

9:37 CAT | 01 Feb 2017

On average, corruption costs the Mozambican State approximately US$500-million per year. In a study on the effects of corruption on the Mozambican economy, the Centre of Public Integrity (Centro de Integridade Pública, CIP) concluded that the aggregate cost of corruption between 2002 and 2014 was between US$4.8-billion and US$4.9-billion, the equivalent of roughly 30% of the country’s 2014 GDP.

The institution concluded that the cost of corruption to the State could be considerably higher if one includes cases such as Ematum, customs violations, exaggerated fuel import prices, and contracting in the telecommunication and construction/public works sectors.

On the topic of corruption costs to the State, the CIP denounced, in the first half of 2014, the diversion of about US$80-million, of which only US$14-million was recovered.

The CIP lamented that corruption of this magnitude has serious consequences, such as the loss of investment projects valued at about US$90-million in 2014 alone, increased production costs and losses to private sector activity, the retraction of the private sector and SMEs in favour of public companies and public-private partnerships. In addition, corruption tarnishes the country’s reputation as a Foreign Direct Investment destination.

Source: Rhula Weekly / O País