President Filipe Nyusi believes that high-interest rates, climate change, low industrialisation and terrorism are the main factors conditioning the growth of developing countries, especially African countries.
According to the President, who was speaking on 24 August in Johannesburg at the 15th BRICS Summit, although there are signs of an improvement there are still negative factors that undermine the speed of growth, such as the persistence of inflation, "and this reality implies an increase in debt servicing and a fall in reserves with consequences for currency depreciation".
"The situation is exacerbated by the rise in interest rates in creditor countries, which has resulted in higher financing costs for African countries", he said.
The President said that Africa makes an insignificant contribution to carbon emissions and is inhabited by millions of people who still don't have access to energy. Nonetheless, Africa suffers from the effects of climate change. "Unfortunately, African countries are victims of tropical cyclones and recurrent droughts, which have an impact on agricultural production, employment for young people, the quality of people's lives and the displacement of millions of people", the President said.
Therefore, he added, there is an urgent need to adopt an energy transition that allows the economic potential of African countries with developing energy resources to be capitalised on, which will undoubtedly play a fundamental role in global energy security in the coming decades.
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President Nyusi also pointed to industrialisation through the consolidation of regional value chains for various products, based on the building of infrastructures that connect the African continent to boost the continental free trade zone.
"The processing of our countries' strategic agricultural and mineral products is important, combining the resources of various countries for gains in economies of scale and access to energy under viable conditions, where Mozambique should play an important role given the potential of its energy matrix and strategic geographical location", he said.
However, President Nyusi warns that the desired development will only be possible with peace and stability. For this reason, there is an urgent need to combat terrorism and maritime piracy in multilateral forums with the active participation of the least developed countries in line with the dictates of international law and without the influence of geopolitical rivalry.
President Nyusi welcomed the BRICS initiative for a new development bank that should reduce the infrastructure deficit on the African continent.
"We welcome the fact that it favours the financing of vital economic and social infrastructures, highlighting the concrete need for roads and bridges, schools and hospitals, dams and other water retention and management systems, among others", he said.
BRICS is made up of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. Russian President Vladimir Putin did not attend in person since the International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued a warrant for his arrest for war crimes.
The number of BRICS members is set to increase to 11 from 1 January next year with the inclusion of Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
