Mozambique’s exports grew in the first quarter of the year, a trend also seen in the external indebtedness of private investors, according to the country’s latest balance of payments data.

Exports increased by 20 percent over the same period last year, surpassing the six percent growth in imports, the first-half balance sheet of the Government’s Economic and Social Plan made available by the Ministry of Economy and Finance reads.

This trend continued even after the first quarter, according to new information advanced by Prime Minister Carlos Agostinho do Rosário in a speech at the Maputo International Fair on Monday.

According to him, Mozambican exports reached US$2.5 billion (2,140 million Euros) at the end of the first half of 2018, an increase of 42 percent over the same period last year.

Concerning financial flows, the document notes that “during the first quarter of 2018, financial flows between the Mozambican economy and the rest of the world contributed to the deterioration of the debtor position by 15.3 percent to US$ 896 million (768 million Euros)”.

“The contracting of loans by national private entities with non-resident entities constituted, in the period under review [first quarter of 2018], the main source of financing for national economic activity, increasing by more than 100 percent,” it reads.

The scenario thus runs counter to “the trend of recent periods, where FDI [Foreign Direct Investment] has been the largest source of financing”.

The biannual balance of the Government’s Economic and Social Plan notes that in the period under review, “resources for investments in the form of FDI registered a slowdown in the order of 54.7 percent”.

Considering the accounts covering all items, the current account balance has worsened by 18.9 percent compared to the first quarter of 2017.

This worsening is explained as “mainly due to the increase in the deficit of the partial account of services in 70.7 percent, resulting from the contracting of specialised services in the framework of the gas exploration projects in the Rovuma basin”.

“Excluding large projects, the current account deficit has fallen by 3.1 percent,” the government’s Economic and Social Plan balance sheet concludes.

Source: Lusa