MAPUTO, March 4, 2021-Mozambique’s economy is expected to gradually recover from 2021 but substantial downside risks remain due to uncertainty surrounding the path of the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic. While the economy registered its first contraction in 2020 in nearly three decades, growth is expected to rebound over the medium-term, reaching about 4 percent by 2022.
Released today, the 6th edition of the World Bank Mozambique Economic Update: Setting the Stage for Recovery, notes that the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic has hit Mozambique’s economy as it was recovering from the debt crisis and the tropical cyclones of 2019. The country’s real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is estimated to have declined by 1.3 percent in 2020, compared to a pre-COVID-19 estimate of 4.3 percent, as aggregate demand fell and lockdown measures necessary to contain the virus disrupted supply chains. Nevertheless, the report notes, job losses and business closure, while significant, were comparatively lower than in peer countries.
“Despite concerted efforts to contain its spread and mitigate its effects, COVID-19 continues to adversely affect households and businesses, delaying the country’s progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs),” noted Idah Z. Pswarayi-Riddihough, World Bank Country Director for Mozambique, Madagascar, Mauritius, Seychelles, Comoros. “The urban poor, who are largely engaged in the informal sector are among the hardest hit. While the impact is significant across the board, small firms are worst affected, notably those in the northern region.”
The report acknowledges that the government took swift sanitary measures, deemed largely successful in keeping cases and deaths on the lower side during the first wave. Furthermore, the authorities enacted robust fiscal and monetary policies aimed at protecting businesses and the most vulnerable. Among those, the Bank of Mozambique enacted stimulus measures, including cutting the monetary policy rate and adopting policies aimed at ensuring financial sector stability. Other crucial support included discounted credit lines to relieve firms of financial distress. Steps were also taken by commercial banks to restructure existing loans by extending maturities and offering grace periods on loan principals. Several other fiscal measures were taken to support small firms and businesses. The report calls for strengthening of these measures to address the effects of the second wave of the virus and support a resilient economic recovery.
“Indeed, continued support to households and viable businesses remains essential for resilient recovery,” noted Fiseha Haile, World Bank Senior Economist and the report’s leading author, adding that it will be key to continue providing support to the poorest and most vulnerable through social protection programs in the short-term. “More support to firms, conditioned on the protection of jobs, could help minimizing layoffs and the loss of productive capacity,” he said.
The report concludes by underlining the need to press ahead with the structural reform agenda as the pandemic subsides. In the recovery phase, policies focusing on supporting economic transformation and job creation, especially for the youth, would be critical. Targeted interventions to support women and alleviate gender inequalities as well as to harness the power of mobile technology would support sustainable and inclusive growth in the medium term.