Accountability & Good Governance: IMF recommends more transparency in public investment in Mozambique

The official representative of Internancional Monetary Fund says growth rates in Mozambique are very good , but leaves several recommendations .

The International Monetary Fund ( IMF ) visited Mozambique this month for the second review under the Policy Support Instrument for a technical assistance program of the Fund for a term of three years.

After the visit of the mission, the official representative of the IMF in the country, Alex Segura, confirmed strong economic growth.” The strongest point of the Mozambican economy last year was a high rate of continued growth,” he says. “Our calculations indicate that the economy grew 7% in 2013, despite the heavy rains earlier in the year. This indicates that the Mozambican economy is quite resilient . “

The mining industry has contributed to strong economic growth in Mozambique.

Growth to continue..

Segura provides a continuation of the growth trend for this year. “We expect a slight growth increase in 2014. The estimated growth is of up to 8%,” he said.

According to the head of the IMF, behind the expansion of the Mozambican economy are various sectors: extractive industries or agriculture, for example.

“We see no slowdown in growth, especially if confidence remains with the progress achieved in the dialogue between the Government and the opposition, which stabilized the perception of security risks . “

“More transparency”

Alex Segura yet detailed criticism of the Fund, saying  that the Mozambican government needs to be more transparent. Nationwide, 15% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is devoted to public investment.

“There needs to be more transparency as to how investment decisions are made,” said Segura. “Last year, [the authorities] created the Integrated Public Investment Plan, which lists all priority projects. Mentioned our concern because there are projects that have not been subjected to rigorous and transparent evaluations, which are not implemented in this list. There is a need of a greater effort to make sure that these projects have the desired impact on the economy.”
 
The IMF representative gave the example of Mozambique Company (EMATUM). Late last year, the newly created company applied for a loan of about 850 million dollars to international banks. The decision angered several governments who donate thousands of dollars in aid to Mozambique every year.