Belgium and Mozambique sign historic "debt-for-climate swap"
[File photo: Twitter / @radiomais_mm]
The African Development Bank (AfDB) on Tuesday said economic diversification was one of the main challenges for the new government in Mozambique, warning of the risks of concentration of the economy in the gas sector.
“The diversification of the economy is a major challenge. We have the lesson from other countries in the world and we know that without investments in other sectors, the big risk is to end up with an economy that is only focused on the gas sector,” said the AfDB director in Mozambique, Pietro Toigo.
He was speaking to the press moments after a meeting with the president of the Confederation of Economic Associations of Mozambique, Agostinho Vuma, in Maputo.
Acto formal da entrega de um portfolio de projectos avaliados em cerca de 4 biliões de dólares ao Banco Africano de Investimentos (BAD), enquadrado na preparação do Mozambique Investment Summit que terá lugar à margem da XVII Conferência Anual do Sector Privado (CASP) pic.twitter.com/8ruNnxjFBu
— Agostinho Vuma (@VumaAgostinho) February 18, 2020
Pietro Toigo said the new government in Mozambique must focus on accelerating agricultural productivity and building infrastructure, two key sectors for the development of the country.
“It is very important that Mozambique reaches 2030 with a diversified economy and a broader and more capable private sector,” he said.
The director of the AfDB in Mozambique highlighted that in the last decade the country has invested more in public infrastructure when compared to other African countries, but there has been a lack of multisectoral coordination, which would ensure organised development of communities in rural areas, where most Mozambicans live.
“Major investments must be planned. We hope that the government’s Five-Year Plan can give this comprehensive framework so that there is synchrony, guaranteeing development, especially in rural areas,” he said.
The new government in Mozambique took office in January, following the elections of 15 October last year, in a ballot in which the Liberation Front of Mozambique (Frelimo), a party in power since independence, and its candidate (Filipe Nyusi) won with a large majority.
The gas exploration megaprojects will start in 2022 and should place Mozambique among the world’s largest producers in the next ten years, with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) predicting that the country’s economy could grow by more than 10% per year.
Investments of around $50 billion are being made by two consortiums operating in areas 1 and 4 of the Rovuma basin off Mozambique’s northern coast, led by the oil companies Total, Exxon Mobil and Eni.
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