The World Bank improved its assessment of Mozambique's ability to use foreign financial aid effectively by 0.1 points, compared to national policies and institutions, slightly above the average for sub-Saharan Africa.

The World Bank's annual report analyzing Mozambique's institutional environment and development aid states that "the increase in the score reflects the improvement in policies and debt management due to reforms to improve the regulatory framework, strengthen management in public companies and improve the management of budgetary risks".

The document, which is the responsibility of the International Development Association (IDA), the World Bank's arm for concessional financing for the poorest countries, quoted by Lusa, states that "progress has been made in social inclusion and equity through greater gender equality and the empowerment of human resources in health and education".

According to the World Bank economists, "more efforts are needed to develop the financial sector, ensure financial stability and continue to adhere to good international accounting practices".

In the document, which improves Mozambique's score from 3.1 points to 3.2, placing the country slightly above the average of 3.1 points in sub-Saharan Africa, they also argue that "efforts to improve governance, particularly in property rights and the rule of law, and address vulnerabilities in transparency and accountability, are essential to improving overall performance".

In this year's edition, for 2022, the World Bank improved the score of 12 African countries, maintaining 20 and worsening eight, and highlights that "despite the global economic challenges, more countries in sub-Saharan Africa saw improvements in their overall score in the Country Policy and Institutional Assessment (CPIA), compared to the previous year".

This institutional evaluation of countries and policies is carried out annually by the World Bank, using four main lines of evaluation (economic management, structural policies, policies for social inclusion and equity, and public sector management and institutions) and 16 criteria.

The twelve countries that improved their rating include Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau and Mozambique, with São Tomé and Príncipe being one of the eight countries whose rating worsened, and 20 maintained their level, out of a total of 39 countries analyzed in sub-Saharan Africa, on an ascending scale of 1 to 6.

Angola and Equatorial Guinea, the other two Lusophone African countries, are excluded from this assessment, as they are not considered by the World Bank to be poor countries, given their per capita income levels.

IDA's annual report "captures the quality of each country's institutional and policy arrangements, focusing on elements controlled by a country, rather than outcomes influenced by external elements", which means that the final result "assesses whether sustainable growth and poverty reduction can be sustained through the institutional and policy arrangements in place".