Overview: One of Africa's poorest countries, Mozambique has failed to exploit the economic potential of its sizable agricultural, hydropower, and transportation resources. Indeed, national output, consumption, and investment declined throughout the first half of the 1980s because of internal disorders, lack of government administrative control, and a growing foreign debt. A sharp increase in foreign aid, attracted by an economic reform policy, resulted in successive years of economic growth in the late 1980s, but aid has declined steadily since 1989. Agricultural output is at only 75% of its 1981 level, and grain has to be imported. Industry operates at only 20-40% of capacity. The economy depends heavily on foreign assistance to keep afloat. Peace accords signed in October 1992 improved chances of foreign investment, aided IMF-supported economic reforms, and supported continued economic recovery.

National product: GDP - purchasing power equivalent - $9.8 billion (1993 est.)

National product real growth rate: 4.1% (1993 est.)

National product per capita: $600 (1993 est.)

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 40% (1993 est.)

Unemployment rate: 50% (1989 est.)

Budget:
revenues: $252 million
expenditures: $607 million, including capital expenditures of $NA (1992 est.)

Exports: $164.4 million (f.o.b., 1993 est.)
commodities: shrimp 48%, cashews 21%, sugar 10%, copra 3%, citrus 3%
partners: US, Western Europe, Germany, Japan

Imports: $1.03 billion (c.i.f., 1993 est.)
commodities: food, clothing, farm equipment, petroleum
partners: US, Western Europe, USSR

External debt: $5 billion (1992 est.)

Industrial production: growth rate 5% (1989 est.)

Electricity:
capacity: 2,270,000 kW
production: 1.745 billion kWh
consumption per capita: 115 kWh (1991)

Industries: food, beverages, chemicals (fertilizer, soap, paints), petroleum products, textiles, nonmetallic mineral products (cement, glass, asbestos), tobacco

Agriculture: accounts for 50% of GDP and about 90% of exports; cash crops - cotton, cashew nuts, sugarcane, tea, shrimp; other crops - cassava, corn, rice, tropical fruits; not self-sufficient in food

Economic aid:
recipient: US commitments, including Ex-Im (FY70-89), $350 million; Western (non-US) countries, ODA and OOF bilateral commitments (1970-89), $4.4 billion; OPEC bilateral aid (1979-89), $37 million; Communist countries (1970-89), $890 million

Currency: 1 metical (Mt) = 100 centavos
Exchange rates: meticais (Mt) per US$1 - 4,941.3 (October 1993), 2,550.40 (1992), 1,763.99 (1991), 1,053.09 (1990), 844.34 (1989)

Fiscal year: calendar year

NOTE: The information regarding Mozambique on this page is re-published from the 1995 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Mozambique Economy 1995 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Mozambique Economy 1995 should be addressed to the CIA.