Nyusi calls on business to invest in productive sectors

NYUSI CALLS ON BUSINESS TO INVEST IN PRODUCTIVE SECTORS

Maputo, 16 May (AIM) – Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi has called on business people to invest in agro-industry and other productive sectors in order to reduce imports and create a healthy and productive environment for business.

According to the President, who was speaking on Wednesday, in Maputo, at the opening of the Annual Private Sector Conference (CASP), businesses must focus on investing in productive sectors and “stop thinking that profits are made from tax exemptions. Entrepreneurs need to have another way of producing their earnings, not by complaining.”

Mozambique, Nyusi said, has received, over the last year, about 2.2 billion dollars in investment intentions in the economic sector. This is an increase of 44 per cent compared to 2022.

“This reality attests to the good moment that the country is going through in the face of competition from various emerging countries in attracting foreign investment”, he said.

According to Nyusi, public investment in infrastructure that contributes to competitiveness has been crucial to boosting investment.

“In energy, we have increased electricity generation, expanded the electricity grid, improved the quality of transmission, including the diversification of sources of electricity,” he pointed out.

The President believes that it is also necessary to work on logistics, taking into account the construction and modernization of roads and railway, the introduction of new air transport destinations, the construction of warehouses, among other initiatives.

For his part, the head of the Mozambican Confederation of Business Associations (CTA), Agostinho Vuma, said there is a need to strengthen the dialogue between business and the state, pointing to the Package of Economic Acceleration Measures as a good result of dialogue between public and private sectors.

“The public-private dialogue allows us to highlight the great achievements aimed at promoting the role of the private sector as a key player in the various reforms. It has resulted in a more promising and attractive business environment, bringing together a shared and concerted vision in which the CTA, representing the entire national private sector, has had the privilege of playing a leading role”, he said.

Vuma also called on the state to pay its debts on time, in order to be trusted by business people.

“As a solution, we propose that, starting in the next five years, a specific item be included in the State Budget for the payment of overdue invoices to suppliers of around 50 million dollars a year, in order to bring greater predictability and confidence to the private sector”, he said.

(AIM)

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