“We’re starting to see a few positive signs,”
French ambassador to Mozambique Bruno Clerc noted at a cocktail dinner held
yesterday at the Résidence de France and organized by the European Business
Club (EBC) in Maputo. The diplomat said that he felt somewhat “reassured” by
recent measures taken by the Mozambican authorities to curb the current
economic and financial crisis that has been stifling the country for almost two
years.Mozambique’s economic growth slowed to 3.3
percent in 2016 (a 15-year low) after growing more than 6.5 percent the
previous year. Its currency, the metical, has lost more than 140 percent of its
value against the dollar since October 2014. The government said last month
that it would unable to honor its commitments to repay bondholders following a
scandal over undisclosed debts of more than US$2 billion not approved by
parliament.
Last December, the central bank of Mozambique
decided to increase its main benchmark interest rates by 150 basis points to
9.75 percent, in order to offer the metical some support. It also introduced a
new interest rate for the interbank money market, with effect from 15 April,
called the monetary policy rate. “It is still too early to appreciate the
impact that those measures will have on the Mozambican economy in 2017”, Clerc
said in an exclusive interview for Club of Mozambique. “However we are
confident that 2018 will show some tangible signs of recovery.”In its most recent forecasts, the Economist
Intelligence Unit (EIU) expects significant private investments in the
construction and services sectors from 2018 on, while mega gas projects in the
northern part of the country are expected to start next year. Economists
anticipate that Mozambique will grow at an average rate of 5.1 percent between
2018 and 2021, a number still below the 7.5 percent recorded between 2005 and
2015.
After having maintained its SD (Selective
Default) rating on Mozambique’s currency, S&P Global Ratings explains that
the development of large coal and natural gas fields will be key for
medium-term economic growth. “Much of the rail track to new coal deposits has
been laid (previously a key constraint to exports), which should support higher
coal production over 2017-2020, provided international prices do not fall
steeply,” the rating agency wrote in a report published two weeks ago.However, French interests in Mozambique go
beyond the mere commodity sector. Testing, inspection and certification
specialist Bureau Veritas has a strong presence in Mozambique – in seven
locations, according to the Mining Review, while Seagram’s gin, Havana Club rum
and Chivas Regal Scotch producer Pernod Ricard established itself here in 2015,
the same year the multinational banking and financial services company Société
Générale opened an office in Maputo.France-Mozambique Business Club’s (FBC)
General Manager Audrey Gortana Vallet notes that about a hundred French
companies and subsidiaries are currently operating in Mozambique, employing a
significant number of employees. “Around 10,000”, Vallet says. “These companies
operate in the transport, logistics, energy, construction, services, electrical
equipment and primary sectors,” the FBC chairwoman adds.
The FBC was founded in 2015 and offers various
services to French companies already established in Mozambique as well as to
those eager to expand into this southern African market. It was recently
appointed to the rotating presidency of the EBC for 2017, and Vallet will now
succeed Club of Mozambique’s president and Swiss investor Adrian Frey as
chairman of the EBC.There is still plenty of room left for French
companies, as the French presence in Mozambique remains very low compared, for
example, to the Portuguese’s. “There are only 743 French citizens living in
Mozambique,” confirms Yanis Bouchard Pereira, Economic Cooperation Officer at
the Club Export Reunion and member of the French-Mozambique Club, who also
attended the cocktail dinner.
Asked what the main benefits that French
businesses could offer Mozambique were, Clerc stressed technological transfer.
“Offering professional and technical training for local employees, thus
promoting the emergence of new skills, is at the core of French investment
philosophy,” he says.While this may translate into higher prices
for the services and goods provided by those companies such an approach is far
more beneficial for the country in the long term. A training program in the
field of labor inspection in the mining sector, which will provide increased
safety for Mozambican workers, is currently taking place with French
assistance.Launched in 2015, the EBC is a joint
initiative of the European business chambers to promote business and
investments in Mozambique. Its members consist of business clubs and economic
and trade offices from various embassies, including Switzerland, Italy,
Germany, Netherlands, Finland, Spain, Portugal and United Kingdom.
Representing about 600 European companies, the
EBC aims to extend the local business network, not only with the objective of
helping those intent on establishing their own businesses, but also with that
of partnering with existing local operators. The mutual interactions of its
members form a communication platform through which they can develop collective
responses to various challenges.
The platform is also the main communication
medium between EBC representatives and the Mozambican government. The FBC’s new
chairman will address the task of organizing all the EBC held during her
mandate. “While it is true that members may be competitors, the EBC allows them
to join forces on common projects, where each is complementary to the other,”
the French ambassador explains. “As such, the club creates a win-win situation
for all participants.”The cocktail dinner was sponsored by
international audit and consulting group Mazars, the global logistical leader
DHL, Société Générale and Pernod Ricard among others. All participants at the
evening contributed to a fundraising program in support of two charity
projects: the ‘Wamina Girl” project, which helps young Mozambican girls in the
management of their menstrual cycle, and non-governmental organization ASAS’s
Alulamile Orphanage project, which finances the construction of bathrooms and
toilets.
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