Mozambique: Economy to grow 2.1% this year – IMF

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Mozambique: Economy to grow 2.1% this year – IMF

8:11 CAT | 16 Apr 2021

Picture: IMF

All Portuguese-language African countries (PALOP) will recover from last year’s generalised recession and will see their economies grow by an average of 3%, below the 3.4% expansion of the region, according to the IMF.

According to the report on the Regional Economic Outlook: Sub-Saharan Africa, released Thursday by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Washington, Cabo Verde will be the country with the highest growth this year (5.8 percent), but was also the one with the biggest recession last year, with a historic drop of 14 percent.

Equatorial Guinea, which has been in recession since 2016 and is expected to have negative economic growth again next year, is the second best performing economy among African Lusophone economies, expected to grow by 4 percent this year, according to the Fund.

With regard to the ratio of public debt to gross domestic product (GDP), one of the most used indicators to gauge the financial capacity of countries taking into account the growth of economies, the PALOP countries have a high average, and well above the average for the region.

Debt

The report places Cabo Verde as the country with the highest public debt in the region, but with the caveat that the debt profile is less worrying since it is largely concessional.

Mozambique, with 125 percent, is the second most indebted country on a list headed by Eritrea, with an impressive debt to wealth ratio of 175 percent, it said.

The average growth for Portuguese language African countries is 94.7%, well above the 56.2% of GDP average for the region.