Mozambique has become one of the fastest growing economies on the African continent, after its prolonged civil war. The Southern African country is trying to make up for lost time. Crime is low and the seriousness with which the country has taken reconstruction is clearly visible, despite numerous setbacks such as the the annual flooding that wipes away many of its grains.
The momentum picked in 1992, when the ruling Liberation Front of Mozambique, FRELIMO, and the Mozambique National Resistance, RENAMO, signed a peace agreement after 16 years of civil war.
Currently, Mozambique, with a population of 17 million, is considered one of the strongest economic performers in sub- Saharan Africa. The country’s economy has growing at an average of eight per cent for the past five years. The post-election road to success started in 1987 when Mozambique initiated an economic reforms programme. It jettisoned the socialist model that was introduced by Samora Machel, its late former president, and accepted capitalism. The makeover saw the country attract substantial foreign investments.
However, unemployment is as high as 60 per cent, with many of the country’s citizens working in South African mines and remitting their earnings in foreign exchange back home. Almost half of the youths in Mozambique with higher education qualfications migrate to other countries to seek jobs.
Mozambique remains an agricultural and poor country. Majority of its workers engage in traditional subsistence cultivation. The principal cash crops include cashew nuts, sugarcane, cotton, tea, citrus and tropical fruits. Cattles and goats are raised, but their numbers are kept low by the tsetse fly. There are forestry and fishing incdustries too. The country’s mineral wealth has not been fully determined. However, titanium and natural-gas deposits are being developed by foreign investors. There are also significant coal deposits, which are mined in small amounts, besides hydropower potentials.
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