Mozambique: Business confidence grows for fifth consecutive quarter- INE

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Mozambique: Business confidence grows for fifth consecutive quarter- INE

1:14 CAT | 30 Oct 2024

File photo: Lusa

Mozambican business confidence grew again between July and September, for the fifth consecutive quarter, with an increase in employment expectations, the National Statistics Institute (INE) has announced.

According to the Business Economic Climate Indicator (ICEE), the “business economic climate registered a slight increase” in the third quarter, “thus continuing with the favourable profile that has been recorded since the fourth quarter of 2023”.

The ICEE gathers the opinions of economic agents, including company managers, on the current evolution of their activity and short-term expectations, particularly on employment, demand, orders, prices, production, sales and activity limitations.

The indicator reached its most recent low of 82 points in the fourth quarter of 2021 and rose to around 100 points in the second quarter of this year, surpassing it in the third quarter with 102 points.

“The favourable assessment of the economic climate in the quarter under review was due, in a sectoral manner, to the favourable assessment of the indicator in the industrial production and trade sectors,” the ICEE report states.

In the third quarter of 2024, the document adds, the demand expectation indicator “increased slightly, with the respective balance reaching the highest level in the last 20 quarters” (five years).

“This behaviour of demand expectations in the quarter under review was mainly due to the increase in demand forecasts in the trade sector, which surpassed the other sectors in the period under review,” the report suggests.

The employment expectation indicator also increased again in the third quarter, but the respective balance “remained below the average of the respective time series”.

“This increase in the indicator was due to a positive appreciation of the indicator in all sectors covered by the survey, with particular emphasis on the industrial production and trade sectors, which increased substantially compared to the previous quarter,” adds the report.

On the other hand, 35.9% of the companies surveyed faced “some obstacle” in the third quarter, representing an increase of 8.3 percentage points compared to the previous quarter, “contrary to the stage of the economic climate indicator, which increased in the period under analysis”.

“All sectors recorded an increase in companies with constraints or difficulties. The industrial production sector (40.0%) continued to have the highest proportion of companies with constraints,” the report concludes.

Source: Lusa