Turkey leads foreign direct investment in Mozambique

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Turkey leads foreign direct investment in Mozambique

10:37 CAT | 19 Oct 2018

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Foreign direct investment (FDI) in Mozambique totalled US$193.1 million at the end of the first half of 2018, with Turkey the country’s lead investor.

Turkish entrepreneurs injected more than US$70 million into Mozambique between January and June this year, becoming the largest foreign investors in the so-called ‘Pearl of the Indian Ocean’ in the period in question.

Turkish investment focused on transport, communications, industry and construction projects in the first six months of 2018, all in the city and province of Maputo.

China, the country’s largest socio-economic partner overall, comes second, followed by Mauritius, according to the Agency for the Promotion of Investment and Exports (APIEX).

Portugal, the only Lusophone country in the top 10, ranked fifth, but African countries, represented by Kenya, South Africa, Mauritius, Zimbabwe and Botwana, dominated the ranking in the first half of the year.

The province and city of Maputo absorbed the most FDI in the period under analysis, capturing around US$148.5 million of the US$193.1 million total, and financing 62 projects, according to APIEX.

The services, fisheries and industry sectors secured most foreign direct investment.

Combined FDI and domestic investment amounted to more than US$550 million in the first half of 2018.

In April 2017, Maputo and Ankara signed a cooperation agreement for the construction of 5,000 houses in the capital’s Zimpeto neighbourhood, with a 2022 target date. The delivery of the first keys is scheduled for this year.

The residential complex is being built by Akay Construction, a Turkish company, and the work follows a memorandum of understanding that had already been signed in late 2016 and reaffirmed the following year.

When signing the project feasibility contracts, Maputo mayor David Simango said that “Maputo and Ankara are twin cities”. The idea was to take advantage of Turkey’s experience in building low-cost houses.

The residential complex plan provides for the construction, over an area of 17 hectares, of apartments of two to three divisions costing below US$100,000.

Source: O País