MAPUTO – Investment in Mozambique fell 42 percent in the first quarter of 2016, data showed on Friday, as the southern African nation battles inflation, a weakening currency and mounting debt.
Total investment fell to $329 million from $566 million from January to March this year, with foreign direct investment making up 68 percent of that amount or $224 million, according to the Centre for Promotion of Investment.
Mozambique has run up more than $2 billion of private debt deals. An International Monetary Fund team is in the country to try to find a way out of the debt crisis that is hurting the economy of one of the world’s poorest countries and could trigger social and political unrest.
Growth is projected to slow to 4.5 percent in 2016 from 6.6 percent in the previous year, the IMF said last month. (Reuters)
