Mozambique: Industrial production fell 3.6% in 2023

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Mozambique: Industrial production fell 3.6% in 2023

8:28 CAT | 20 Mar 2024

FILE - For illustration purposes only. [File photo: AIM]

Mozambican industrial production fell 3.6% in value in 2023, to 147,289 million meticais (€2,114 million), influenced by the decline in the metallurgical sector, according to data from the budget execution report that Lusa had access to on Tuesday.

This performance compares with the 152,761 million meticais (€2,193 million) of total production in the Mozambican industrial sector in 2022, according to last year’s budget execution report from the Ministry of Economy and Finance.

“The [2023] sector’s performance was negative, influenced by the basic metallurgical industry, resulting from the reduction in the price of aluminium on the international market,” the report reads.

The report highlights basic metallurgy, along with food (34.6%), beverages (23.8%) and non-metallic minerals (10.1%) “the most important divisions in the sector”.

The basic metallurgy industries produced the equivalent of 50,925 million meticais (€731 million) in 2023, 6.8% less than in 2022, followed by the food industry, with 35,102 million meticais (€504 million), a decline of 4.3%, and the beverage industry, with 22,587 million meticais (€324.1 million), in this case a growth of 1.4%.

Industries located in the province of Maputo produced the most, with 55.2% of the total in 2023, followed by those in Nampula (23.8%) and Sofala (10.7%).

Economic growth in Mozambique slowed slightly in the fourth quarter of 2023, to the equivalent of 5.36% of gross domestic product (GDP), according to data from the central bank and the National Statistics Institute (INE), as Lusa has previously reported.

According to the Bank of Mozambique, this growth compares with 5.92% in the previous quarter, which followed increases of 4.67% in the period from April to June and 4.17% from January to March, which translates into average economic growth in 2023 just above 5% of GDP.

The slight reduction of 0.56 percentage points compared to the previous quarter essentially resulted from the “less accentuated growth of the extractive industry” and the “negative performance of the manufacturing industry”, the central bank explained, citing the INE.

The Mozambican government in February announced that the country recorded economic growth of 5% in 2023 compared to 4.4% in 2022, highlighting an “economic expansion” that surpassed the regional average of the South African Development Community (SADC) countries.

“Economic growth for 2023 reached 5%, compared to 4.4% in 2022, driven by extractive industries, tourism, agriculture, transport and communications, among others,” Council of Ministers spokesperson Ludovina Bernardo declared.

According to the Mozambican executive, the growth resulted from policies and reforms applied during the year, especially those adopted for “greater dynamics” in private sector economic activities and in attracting investments.

Source: Lusa