Maputo, June 24, 2024 (Lusa) - Poverty in Mozambique has increased by 87% in ten years, reaching around 65% of the population by 2022, according to data from the National Development Strategy (ENDE) 2025-2044, approved by the government.
"Poverty has affected a significant portion of the population, with distinct demographic and socio-economic characteristics, due to the various adverse events that have negatively influenced the country, particularly climatic events such as cyclones Keneth and Idae that have significantly affected the lives of the population, causing significant economic and social damage," reads the report, to which Lusa had access today.
According to the document, approved this month by the Council of Ministers, the effects were also "combined with rising food prices, climatic shocks that affect families' agricultural production and the transport sector, and the terrorist situation in northern Mozambique".
The report describes that "in terms of poverty, estimates indicate an increase in consumption poverty, from 46.1% in 2014/15 to 68.2% in 2019/20, but which "reduced slightly to 65.0% from 2019/20 to 2022", in this case mainly affecting rural areas (68.4% of the population), but also urban areas (58.4%).
In the northern regions, more than 70% of the population was affected by consumption poverty.
Multidimensional poverty, on the other hand, "saw a more stable change in the rate, from 55% in 2014/15 to 53.1% in 2022, suggesting improvements in access to education and drinking water."
"However, the challenge of adequate housing conditions with access to safe water and sanitation, electricity and the possession of durable goods still prevails, with greater emphasis on rural areas where 66.6% of the country's total population resides," it reads.
The document also states that social protection in the country "registered advances in Basic Social Security in the period from 2010 to 2023, namely with the "increase in beneficiaries from 254,000 to 384,000", while the value of social transfers rose from 0.47% to 0.73% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the same period.
Public spending on social action programmes went from 0.2% of GDP to 0.51% of GDP in ten years.
The Mozambican government has identified funding needs of €246 billion to implement the five priority pillars of the National Development Strategy by 2044.
"It's a shared commitment to the country's future. By implementing this revised strategy, Mozambique strengthens its capacity to face the challenges of the present and build a prosperous and sustainable future for all citizens," reads the document.
ENDE defines the pillars for the next 20 years as the Structural Transformation of the Economy, with investments totalling almost $176.5 billion (€165 million), and Social and Demographic Transformation, with $23.9 billion (€22.3 billion).
The strategy also incorporates the pillars of Infrastructure, Organisation and Territorial Planning, with investments of $24.7 billion (€23 billion), Governance, Peace and Security, with $21.3 billion (€19.9 billion), and Environmental Sustainability, Climate Change and Circular Economy, with $17 billion (€15.8 billion).
The strategy starts from a current average economic growth rate of 5%, to 9% in the period up to 2028, reaching 9.2% in the period up to 2043. The unemployment rate is expected to fall from the current average of 18.4% to 7.5% by 2043, while inflation is forecast to rise from 7.1% to 9.2% by 2028, falling to 3.1% by 2043.
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