Maputo — Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi announced on Monday that the country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew by 3.2 percent in the first three months of the current year.

According to Nyusi, who was speaking, at the opening of the 59th edition of the Maputo International Trade Fair (Facim-2024), this figure is the result of monetary policy measures, in which low inflation has combined with solid economic growth trends, with exports growing along with exchange rate stability.

He also claimed that the implementation of certain government measures such as the exemptions from entry visas for over 20 countries, and the reduction in Value Added Tax (VAT), from 17 to 16 per cent, also contributed to the growth of the GDP.

According to the President, there was also a diversification of investment flows of over ten billion dollars between 2019 and 2023, "in which the energy sector absorbed 40 per cent, tourism 18 per cent, industry 15 per cent, services 14 per cent and construction five per cent. The rest was left to other sectors'.

Nyusi also called on the businesses of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to think about how to maximize the value chain of the minerals held by the member countries, as a way of making the region a global benchmark in the production of diversified products.

"For example, Zimbabwe's lithium, Zambia's copper, Mozambique's graphite and the Democratic Republic of Congo's cobalt are enough to develop a regional value chain that maximizes economies of scale and gives greater negotiating power against the domains of the large economies in the race for control of Africa's value chains', he said.

Nyusi believes that with these kinds of initiatives, SADC may become a global hub, in the context of energy transition.