In the first quarter of this year, Mozambique recorded a negative variation of 2.5% in imports of goods, totaling 2 billion dollars compared to the 2.1 billion recorded in the same period of 2023.

The data is contained in the quarterly Balance of Payments (BoP) bulletin, released this Monday (29) by the Bank of Mozambique (BdM), to which the MZNews had access to. According to the document, the reduction in imports from Other Sectors and Major Projects (GP) was essentially reflected in this result, with 29.6 million dollars and 22.2 million dollars, respectively.

According to the BdM, in terms of categories of goods, including GPs, the highlight goes to Intermediate Goods which cost Mozambique 610.5 million dollars, representing a weight of 30.2% over total imports, meaning a decrease of 16.6% compared to the same period last year. "The reduction in spending on the purchase of fertilizers, electricity, fuel and raw aluminium contributed to this effect, by 78%, 28.8%, 18.9% and 11%, respectively," the document points out.

In addition, consumer goods, with a weight of 23.4% in import expenditure, this category fell by 7.4%, totaling 472.8 million dollars, highlighting the reductions in wheat imports by 72.8%, edible oil by 40.2% and furniture and medical surgical materials by 26.6%. However, in the opposite direction, there were increases in imports of rice by 90.8%, car accessories by 29.6% and medicines and reagents by 5.1%.

Finally, capital goods, accounting for 19.7% of the total import bill, according to the BoM, saw an increase of 9.5%, equivalent to a quarterly flow of 397.5 million dollars. "This variation is explained by the 29.1 million dollar increase in the purchase of miscellaneous machinery, especially by companies not belonging to the GP category," the bulletin says.

Overall, South Africa led the way as the main country of origin of Mozambican imports, accounting for 23.2% of total imports, equivalent to a value of 481 million dollars, followed by China and the United Arab Emirates with a weight of 17.9% and 8.1% of total imports. India and Singapore close out the list with 7.5% and 5.4% of total imports.

(Photo DR)