Speaking in the conference on Financing the industry via Capital and banking development held by the Mozambique Industrial Association (AIMO), on the past 11/24 in Maputo, the CEO of the Mozambique Stock Exchange, Salim Valá, advocated that industrialization is a safe way to take if Mozambique wants to have a rapid economic growth, but it should be inclusive and sustainable, and contribute to the generation of more jobs, reduce the social inequalities and eradicate poverty.
The recommendation by the BVM top executive is that bearing in mind the reality and economic structure of the country, a strategy for inclusive economic growth that permits the insertion into the global context, should firmly and consistently bet on industrialization.
“Obviously agriculture and agribusiness will be the gate for the structural transformation of the economy through industrialization”, highlighted Salim Valá, to whom the modernization of agriculture will allow the revolutionary increase of the productivity and the income of the economic ators involved, including the additional availability of food and raw materials for the country’s manufacturing industry.
Also read: Mozambique: Single-digit inflation by mid-2023 – Oxford Economics Africa
The BVM Chairman highlighted that a country with any strong national industry will neither be hardly developed nor economically independent as it will eternally be stuck in the raw materials trap and vulnerable to the volatility of commodities prices in the international market. Valá recognized that to industrialize a country is not one sector task or of the government only, demanding a vision and a consistent long-term strategy where joint and complementary efforts of the government are articulated, private sector, civil society, institutions of training and investigation, cooperation partners, financial institutions, all the “living force” of the society and national economic system.
Referring to another topic of the moment, natural gas, Salim Valá said that expectations are not inflated even in relation to other minerals and hydrocarbons. For him, the bet should be the transformation of the valuable natural resources in the country, aggregating value in place of exporting primarily.
