Mozambique launched a Mutual Guarantee Fund worth $40 million to support the small and medium enterprises, during the 60th annual Maputo International Trade Fair this week.
President Daniel Chapo revealed the initiative funded by the World Bank on Monday, with a target of 15,000 businesses, focusing mainly on women and young entrepreneurs.
The seven-day trade fair hosts over 3,000 exhibitors from 28 countries, with the attendance expected to reach tens of thousands.
At the opening ceremony, Chapo, while marshalling Mozambique’s natural resources, made an appeal for foreign investment and local economic development, among other things.
Gaza province director of industry and commerce, Lucia Matimele, represents the country’s agricultural sector at the event with the display of crops such as bananas, peppers, and rice. She specified that investment was the missing key for the growth of agriculture, the country has enough land, water, and farmers.
The country in the south of Africa is dealing with economic issues such as a corruption scandal of $2 billion, post-election protests that severely affected tourism, and an armed rebellion in northern Cabo Delgado province, which has forced TotalEnergies $20 billion natural gas project to stop.
The World Bank raises Mozambique’s GDP growth rate forecast from 1.8% in 2024 to 3% for 2025.
The researcher, Borges Nhamirre, said that Mozambique had depended on the money made from natural gas but now it needed the country to grow in the areas of agriculture and manufacturing.
The country is blessed with fertile land and vast water resources but is struggling to produce and distribute the agricultural products because of the lack of infrastructure.
