From January to March this year, the Mozambican economy reduced its demand for foreign savings to finance its consumption and investment needs by 16.9%, with the combined balance of the current and capital accounts standing at 628 million dollars.

The data is contained in the quarterly balance of payments bulletin (BoP), released today, Monday (29), by the Bank of Mozambique (BdM) and to which the MZNews had access to, pointing out that this result was due, on the one hand, to the contraction of the current account (CC) deficit by 20.8% to 646.4 million dollars and, on the other, to the reduction of the capital account surplus by 69.7%.

In this context, the reduction in the CC deficit, according to the BoM, essentially reflects the fall in the negative balance of the goods account by 29%, justified by the increase in exports by 3.1%, compared to the fall in imports by 2.5%.

"The decrease in the CC deficit also resulted from the contraction of the negative balance of the services account by 4.4%, to a total of 182.4 million dollars, reflecting the decrease in demand for most services by residents, which are partially directed to meet the needs arising from the development of companies classified as Major Projects (GP), especially those operating in the extractive industry sector, in the area of natural gas exploration. In addition, net current transfers recorded a surplus of 217.7 million dollars, corresponding to an annual growth of 44.7%, explained by the increase in net receipts from the private sector of around 50%," reads the report.

The central bank states in the document that the financial account recorded an inflow of resources of 926.7 million dollars, representing an increase of 3.6% when compared to the same period in 2023, essentially as a result of the increase in the net contracting of financial liabilities in the Other Investment category, by 68%, to 279.2 million.

Thus, in light of the above, "economic transactions between Mozambique and the rest of the world resulted in an overall surplus of 174.6 million dollars, which contributed to an increase in the monetary authority's reserve assets of 174.6 million, with the balance of gross international reserves standing at 3.646.1 million dollars, enough to cover 3.1 and 4.8 months of imports of goods and services, including and excluding GPs respectively."

Overall, the report also states that Mozambique's net debtor position abroad, as measured by the International Investment Position (IIP), deteriorated by 2.1 1TP3Q to 69.109.7 million dollars.