Browsing: Mozambique

BREXIT trade impacts in Southern Africa

If everything goes according to plan (and that’s a big statement), January 1st shall see the departure of the United Kingdom from the European Union, its single market and customs agreements.

As much as I would like to, it is becoming increasingly hard to believe that the parties will conclude a trade deal in time for the official divorce date. I am sceptical of a “hard” BREXIT as I believe that some sort of policy extension will remain in place for quite some time; anything else would be economic madness and given the current pandemic no politician would allow that to happen. (I know what you might be thinking but, luckily, that kind of stupid is currently reserved for leaders across the Atlantic).

The EU is South Africa’s largest trade partner while South Africa has long and in-depth trade relations with the United Kingdom. …

The World Bank board of directors approved a $104 million in support of skills development programmes for youths in Mozambique.

The grant came from the bank’s International Development Association (IDA) and will invest in Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) and Higher Education (HE) subsystems.

In response to Mozambique’s priorities and economic sectors,  the project seeks to improve quality and access of educational curriculums and skills development training.

The project is targeting to help increase access to quality education and training at the institutions in priority areas relevant to future economic development, focusing on engineering, science, technology, mathematics and climate change.

“Empowering its youth by developing higher-level skills through quality post-secondary education, while working on policies to incentivise the creation of jobs linked to modern productive systems, are among the most important challenges facing the country if it’s to reap the benefits of its demographic dividend,” noted Idah Z. Pswarayi-Riddihough, …

The Mozambique business sector reported a loss of $453 million in the first half of 2020 due to the pandemic of COVID-19, the Confederation of Economic Associations of Mozambique (CTA) said.

The Confederation of Economic Associations of Mozambique (CTA) warned that depending on the evolution of the pandemic and of the economic dynamics in the second half of the year, the situation could worsen. The business lost revenue could rise to 951 million dollars, equivalent to about seven per cent of Mozambique’s Gross Domestic Product. (https://www.christophechoo.com)

Presenting a report on the impact of the pandemic in Maputo, the CTA’s acting chairperson, Alvaro Massinga, said that the level of economic activity fell by about 65 per cent in the first half of this year. The hotel and tourism industry were most affected by their level of activity shrinking by more than 75 per cent.

The report also showed that …

Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi will later this month take over the Chairmanship of the Southern African Development Community (SADC).

The 40th Heads of State summit will be held virtually as Mozambique takes helm of the regional organization to speak on peace, security and regional co-operation.

Up to this year, the Chairman of the 16-member regional bloc was under the leadership of Tanzania’s fifth President, Dr. John Magufuli.

President Magufuli, the seating chairperson, assumed the leadership of the trade bloc last year in August. Arguably, President Magufuli had to deal with one of the worst crisis that the SADC trade bloc has ever had to face, Covid-19.

As it did for the European Union and other World trade areas, the Covid-19 global pandemic rendered business asunder across all 16 member states. Most all SADC member states were forced to close their borders effectively disrupting business flow across Africa’s largest trade bloc.…

Mozambique is a country blessed with vast natural resources and abundant fertile lands – some of the key elements to ignite economic growth and social development that promises to change the good faith of the country.

Nevertheless, and despite the massive approved foreign investment related to natural gas rivalling its GDP, Mozambique will face strong challenges in order to secure a better future.

FurtherAfrica spoke to H.E. Adriano Maleiane, Mozambique’s Minister of Economy and Finance to better understand how the country intends to tackle these challenges using long-term strategies to ensure economic sustainability and a better future for its people.

Mr. Maleiane is no stranger to challenges, having served as Governor of Mozambique’s central bank for some 15 years and later overlooking the founding of the country’s national investment and development bank, an institution he served for nearly 5 years as chairman before he was appointed Minister of Economy and …

Export-Import (EXIM) bank United States said it is in the process of providing  $4.7 billion in financing the liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in Mozambique.

Exim Bank United States fund is the largest commitment given by any lender towards the priciest hydrocarbon development in Africa.

The 13 Million Tonnes Per Annum LNG project will cost $20 billion to develop but Total which is in charge of the project is borrowing $14 billion from 28 financiers.

EXIM bank is one of eight Export Credit Agencies financing the project include Japan Bank for International Corporation (JBIC), Nippon Export and Investment Insurance (NEXI), UK Export Finance (UKEF), Servizi Assicurativi del Commercio Estero of Italy (SACE), Export Credit Insurance Corporation of South Africa (ECIC), Atradius Dutch State Business (Atradius) and Export-Import Bank of Thailand (EXIM Thailand).

There are 19 commercial banks financing the project in which Standard Bank of South Africa, is leading with …

As the Mozambique LNG plant nears US$15B finance – making it the biggest private investment in Africa – two main points of view arise, diametrically opposed:

Also Read: Angola’s exceptional measures in force during sanitary enclosure

• a more cautious short-term assessment identifies the current oversupply of natural gas worldwide, and a steep drop in price; in Asia, for instance, prices dipped so much that importers in China have released themselves from contracts claiming “force majeure”, a clause often invoked during natural disasters or war. Prices in Asia have fallen below US$3 per million British thermal units, whereas in mid-January it was comfortably above US$5/mmbtu.
• long-term growth prospects for the second half of this decade are phenomenally promising, with Royal Dutch Shell stating that demand has already been rising (by 12.5% only last year) and it forecasts that this demand will double by 2040, reaching 700 million tonnes. The fact that

A webinar organised by The Power & Electricity World Africa, entitled “Achieving Energy Security: Encouraging Healthy Competition And Regulation For IPPs”, took place on the morning of July 14th, 2020.

Also Read: Angola’s exceptional measures in force during sanitary enclosure

The attending virtual panel consisted of:

• Dr. Clinton Carter-Brown, Energy Centre Head, CSIR, South Africa – Moderator
• Vitor Marquez da Cruz, Managing Director, MC&A Advogados
• Eng. Julius Riungu, CEO, Tsavo Power, Kenya

The topic of African Energy security and the challenges ahead was debated in a little over an hour, with very insightful contributions from all parties involved being brought to the forefront.

The imbalance of supply and demand for electricity in Africa curbs its potential for economic development. IPPs (Independent Power Producers), though, align very well with the national energy security agenda and are a definite solution to meeting Africa’s growing electricity needs.

Africa currently accounts for …

Mozambique, Angola, Namibia, Ethiopia, Zambia, Rwanda, Uganda, Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco.

These are the African countries set to be allowed to enter the EU territory as the borders reopen in July, according to a draft list of the countries obtained and reported by euronews.

As the European Union gets ready to reopen its borders, officials in Brussels are debating behind closed doors, the draft of two lists; one with those countries that will be accepted, and one for those which will not, as the territory struggle to meet their previously announced July 1st goal.

The euronews sources also reported that officials “could not reach an agreement”, that talks would continue and that the deadline to open the borders may very well be extended beyond July 1st, suggesting agreements will not be forthcoming in time.

Also read: Air passengers travel confidence key to salvaging African airlines

Notably, Brazil, Qatar, …

Following recent announcements from the government, Mozambique’s BNI (Banco Nacional de Investimentos) is about to launch two credit lines to assist the country’s SMEs to mitigate the effects of the COVID19 pandemic.

Small and medium companies represent the core of the country’s formal/ informal economy and have been heavily affected by the pandemic. The new credit lines are due to be officially announced by BNI this week and will address specifically SMEs, hospitality and education with an expected interest rate below the market rates.

Also Read: Legal pointers for Mozambique SMEs

The credit lines are meant to assist companies affected by COVID-19 in the entire country and are being financed by the government and the INSS. BNI expect the credit lines to address such issues as maintenance, restitution and the increase of jobs and household income as well as to provide some much breathing room cashflow in affected companies.

Although …