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Development trends in Mozambique

  • Despite its strong GDP growth for the last decade - above 7% - and a gradually deepening democracy Mozambique is one of the poorest and most severely capacity constrained countries in the world;
  • Mozambique has a GDP per capita of 880 USD (GDP), remains a predominantly rural society. While 70% of the labor force is engaged in agriculture, the sector only contributes 28.6% to GDP;
  • 55% of Mozambicans live below the national poverty line (<0.50 USD a day) up from 54% in 2003;
  • In 2011 Mozambique ranked 184 of 187 countries on the HDI and suffers from increasing inequality;
  • In 2010 the Government’s five year plan for 2010 to 2014 was approved in April, and in 2011 the poverty reduction strategy paper (PARP) for 2011-2014 was approved;
  • One of the key challenges for the Government remains to strengthen its fiscal position: the absence of a sufficiently large formal sector has implications for the tax base; 49% of the 2010 state budget, or 20.5% of GNI was financed by foreign assistance. Aid per capita increased from 14 USD in 1980 to 88 USD in 2010;
  • 2011 was characterized by large exchange rate fluctuations. Inflation reduced slightly from 12.7% in 2010 to 10.4% in 2011; the depreciation of the metical reduces purchasing power of Mozambicans who are highly food import dependent, a cause of the protests in September 2010;
  • Other development challenges include the HIV/AIDS: new figures released in 2010 show that 11.5% of Mozambicans live with HIV/AIDS. Malaria, tuberculoses and cholera are also serious concerns, and remain among the main causes of death in the country;
  • In October 2009 the ruling party Frelimo was re-elected in a landslide victory during the Presidential, Parliamentary and Provincial elections. However there were some controversies surrounding the pre-election processes which raised some concern among the donor community. In 2011, there were three Municipal elections in Quelimane, Cuamba and Pemba. In Cuamba and Pemba Frelimo won, while MDM won in Quelimane. There will be a Municipal election in Inhambane in April 2011. Next Presidential, Parliamentary and Provincial elections are expected to take place in 2014;
  • Mozambique is among the most disaster prone countries in the world with frequent natural disasters such as floods, cyclones, droughts and earthquakes;
  • Gender continues to be an issue and women experience widespread discrimination, trafficking, and domestic violence; girls are more affected by HIV/AIDS than their male counterparts, and studies indicate a feminization of poverty in Mozambique. But the country is performing relatively well on indicators such as Women in Government and the 2011 Human Development Report’s Gender-Related Development Index.

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