Fred Oluoch
6 July 2008
Nairobi — AFTER ITS PROLONGED CIVIL WAR, Mozambique has become one of the fastest growing economies in the African continent.
The Southern African country is trying to make up for lost time. Crime is low and the seriousness with which the country has taken to reconstruction is clearly visible, despite numerous setbacks such as the annual flooding that wipes away many of its gains.
The momentum picked in 1992, when the ruling Liberation Front of Mozambique (Frelimo) and the Mozambique National Resistance (Renamo) signed a peace agreement after 16 years of civil war.
Currently, Mozambique - with a population of 17 million - is considered one of the strongest economic performers in sub-Saharan Africa. Mozambique's economy has been growing at an average of 8 per cent for the past five years.
The post-election road to success started in 1987 when Mozambique initiated an economic reform programme, jettisoned the socialist model that was introduced by its founding president, Samora Machel, and accepted capitalism. The makeover saw the country attract substantial foreign investments.
However, unemployment is as high as 60 per cent, with many of the country's citizens working in South African mines and remitting their earnings in foreign exchange back home. Almost half of the youth in Mozambique with higher education qualifications migrate to other countries to seek jobs.
By 1990, Mozambique was categorised as among the world's poorest nations. Since then, the country has been in transition toward a more market-oriented economy and the prospect of raising its standard of living.
Retired president Joachim Chissano - credited for the economic reforms - last year won the inaugural Mo Ibrahim prize for Achievement in African Leadership.
In 2002, he did Africa proud when he announced he would not seek a third term even though the constitution allowed him to do so.
Mozambique remains an overwhelmingly agricultural and poor country, however, with the majority of its workers engaged in traditional subsistence cultivation.
The principal cash crops include cashew nuts, sugarcane, cotton, tea, citrus and tropical fruits. Cattle and goats are raised, but their numbers are kept low by the tsetse fly. There are forestry and fishing industries too.
The country's mineral wealth has not been fully determine. However, titanium and natural-gas deposits are being developed by foreign investors.
There are also significant coal deposits, which are mined in small amounts, besides hydropower potential.
Mozambique's industrial sector is devoted largely to the processing of raw materials. In addition, chemical fertiliser, refined petroleum, construction materials (particularly cement), steel, aluminum, and textiles are produced.
Electricity from the giant Cahora Bassa hydroelectric project (located on the Zambezi River near Tete) is exported to South Africa. A smaller hydroelectric plant is situated at Chicamba Real (near Beira) on the Revue River.
The annual cost of Mozambique's imports is usually much higher than its earnings from foreign sales.
Mozambigue attained its independence 1975 after 470 years of Portuguese rule.
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