Natalie Cowling
Research Expert South Africa
Key economic indicators of Mozambique - statistics & facts
Mozambique is set to record economic growth of roughly five percent in 2022. After an expansion of 2.5 percent in 2021, the economy is returning to the positive performance registered before the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. In 2020, the country’s GDP had shrunk by 1.2 percent, the first slowdown in recent years. The virus outbreak disrupted relevant sectors, such as mining and hospitality, besides triggering a decrease in demand for Mozambican exports. Additionally, a conflict escalation in the natural gas-rich province Cabo Delgado aggravated economic deceleration, pushing at least half a million people into poverty.
Main economic activities
Back in 2010, massive natural gas discoveries opened new development possibilities to Mozambique. LNG joined a list of extractive resources like coal, mineral sands, and gemstones, with the potential to unlock the country’s economic progress. In fact, mining and quarrying activities have expanded their value added to the GDP, while employment within the sector increased by roughly 45 percent in ten years. At the same time, manufacturing's participation in Mozambique’s economy has grown, with aluminum accounting for roughly one-third of the country’s exports. Despite the transition, agriculture remains an essential sector, contributing more than 25 percent to Mozambique's GDP and employing nearly 70 percent of the labor force, the highest share in Southern Africa.Openness to international trade
Located on the African southeastern coast, Mozambique borders relevant economies on the continent, such as Zimbabwe, Tanzania, and South Africa. Particularly, South Africa is Mozambique’s main trade partner. In 2020, exports to the neighboring country generated around 828 million U.S. dollars, some 23 percent of the total export value. Simultaneously, one-third of Mozambique’s imports originated in South Africa. Overall, Mozambique's economy deeply relies on imported goods, such as machinery, cereals, and fuels. Most notably, food imports as a share of merchandise imports have been increasing in recent years and reached a peak of nearly 20 percent in 2020.Key challenge: fighting poverty
Reliance on food imports makes Mozambique vulnerable to external shocks and international prices, aggravating the country's chronic food insecurity. In November 2021, over 30 percent of the Mozambican population faced insufficient levels of food available for consumption, a scenario often exacerbated by natural disasters and conflicts. Furthermore, in the last decades, economic growth did not coincide with substantial improvements in the national poverty level. In 2022, six out of 10 people lived below 1.90 U.S. dollars per day in Mozambique. Considering the Gross National Income (GNI) per capita, measured at 460 U.S. dollars in 2020, the country remained one of the poorest in Africa.
