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COST OF LIVING WILL INCREASE IN 2023, WARNS PM
Maputo, 10 Dec (AIM) – The cost of living will continue to increase in 2023 warned Mozambican Prime Minister Adriano Maleiane on Friday.
Speaking in the country’s parliament, the Assembly of the Republic, where he presented the government’s Economic and Social Plan and the State Budget for 2023, Maleiane said the annual rate of inflation could reach 11.5 per cent next year, compared with 10.7 per cent this year. GDP is expected to grow by five per cent.
The government, said Maleiane, had drawn up its plan and budget in an international context strongly marked by the consequences of the Russian war on Ukraine, by the prevalence of terrorist raids in the northern Mozambican province of Cabo Delgado, and by an increase in extreme weather events, arising from climate change. All this worsened the already complex challenges of managing the Mozambican public finances.
Maleiane believed that in 2023 economic growth will rely on greater dynamism of private investment, notably in agriculture, industry and construction. To stimulate the economy, the government intends to make available to the private sector business opportunities valued at 134.2 billion meticais (about 2.1 billion dollars, at the current exchange rate) for the provision of goods, services and investments.
“Because of the growth in foreign demand, the higher prices on the international market, and the start of operations of the floating liquefied natural gas (LNG) platform, an increase is forecast in the export of goods and services”, said the Prime Minister. This would be a “historic reduction” in the deficit on the Mozambican balance of trade.
The 2023 budget puts total public expenditure for the year at 472.1 billon meticais. 26 per cent of the budget will go to education and 13 per cent to health, the Minister of Economy and Finance, Max Tonela, told the Assembly.
“The government is continuing to bank on financing the social sectors”, Tonela said, “particularly education, health and social welfare, seeking to provide primary services to the public”.
He added that the investment in roads and bridges envisaged for 2023 is over 500 billion meticais.
(AIM)
Pf/ (353)