The Mozambique Economy is growing far above the regional average due to international investors continuing to focus on the country, but Mozambique has to improve its business climate further, according to the survey office of Portuguese bank BPI.
“The main catalyst for Mozambique’s performance was its capacity to keep investments in the country despite the adverse global context, which shows the confidence foreign investors have in the country’s future development,” said BPI in its most recent report on the Mozambican economy.
According to the latest projections the economy grew by 4.5 percent in 2009, slowing against 2008 (6.8 percent) and the average over the last three years (7.5 percent).
However performance is much better than the average for sub-Saharan Africa last year (1.3 percent) and the same is expected to happen this year (projection of 4.1 percent).
Despite the level of investment some projects inked to mining resources were brought to a halt and the steel making sector was penalised by the closure of a factory and suspension of construction of another by ArcelorMittal.
However, “in contrast, in the same area a metallurgical unit was opened that required investment of US$50 million, whose investors are from South Africa and China,” with 40 percent each, the remainder being in Mozambican hands.
This unit, it added, has a production capacity of 200,000 tonnes and is focused on exports to South Africa, China and Turkey.
The Mozambican Centre for Investment Promotion (CPI) in 2009 approved projects valued at a total of US$5.8 billion, which created 125,000 jobs in several sectors, including agri-forestry, hotels and tourism.

Maputo International Airport
The largest airport in Mozambique, will unveil its new international terminal in November 2010, following a delay of five months.
The new terminal has been designed to handle 900,000 passengers per annum and 1,300 passengers an hour at peak times, increasing the airport's capacity by 50%. The terminal features 13 check-in counters, electronic panels to display time tables and destinations of the flights, and immigration, customs, veterinary and health services.
The building is equipped with escalators, staircases and elevators, specially designed for disabled people. The terminal is part of a $75 million upgrade programme, which also includes expanding the current passenger terminal, building a new control tower, a car park and a VIP presidential pavilion


The Mozambican government has created the Investment Council, a body for consultation and coordination of policies on a Council of Ministers level focused on promoting and attracting investments, the Minister for Planning and Development said in Nampula.

At the closing session of the Conference on Development of the Nacala Special Economic Zone (ZEE), which has been underway since last Thursday in Nacala, in Mozambique’s Nampula province, Aiuba Cuereneia said that the Council of Investments, whose members will be instated in the next few days, have the responsibility, amongst others, of coordinating the activities of the various bodies that make up the State with a view to creating the conditions needed to carry out investments in the country.