Mozambique’s Economic Climate ended year below average, but recovering – INE

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Mozambique’s Economic Climate ended year below average, but recovering – INE

1:00 CAT | 12 Feb 2021

File photo: Lusa

Mozambique’s Economic Climate Indicator (ICE) recovered in the last quarter of 2020, but Covid-19 kept it below the values recorded in 2019, the Mozambican National Institute of Statistics (INE) announced on Thursday.

The indicator rose from 86.3 points in November 2020 to 90.3 in December, still below the 98.6 average ICE monthly balance ICE since 2004.

“The Economic Climate Indicator (ICE), a synthetic expression of business confidence, rose slightly in the fourth quarter of 2020, when compared to the previous quarter, a situation influenced by the record of positive prospects for employment and demand, thus conferring creditable hope for the coming months,” the INE writes.

However, “in relation to the same period, the ICE fell substantially”, it adds.

On the other hand, while in December there was an easing of restrictions on economic activity, in January the government was forced to retreat and announce new limitations as a result of large increases in the number of Covid-19 cases, hospitalisations and deaths.

The highest-ever ICE value was recorded in February, 2015, with 104.3 points, while the minimum occurred in July 2020 with 75.5 points, the bulletin released on Wednesday records, while also making slight corrections to those values, previously stated as 104.1 and 74.8 respectively.

The ICE is part of the Confidence and Economic Climate indicators bulletin, a monthly publication on the economic and business outlook in Mozambique, compiled based on a survey of companies in the non-financial sector conducted every month by the INE.

“The study expresses the opinion of economic agents about the evolution and perspective of their activity, particularly on employment, demand, orders, prices, production, sales and of activity limitations,” Mozambique’s statistical authority explains.

Source: Lusa