Yearbook 2010
Mozambique. Despite impressive economic growth over a number of years and major investments in infrastructure development, the government of Mozambique has not significantly succeeded in raising the population’s living standards. About 55 percent of residents are estimated to live in poverty, a level that has been stuck for several years.
When the government in early September allowed the price of bread to rise by about 30 percent and also raised the price of gasoline and electricity, severe unrest erupted in several cities. At least 14 people were shot dead by the police and hundreds were arrested. The bread became so much more expensive, according to analysts, both because of a sharp rise in wheat prices on the world market and a falling value for Mozambique’s currency, which increased imports from South Africa.
According to COUNTRYAAH, Mozambique has a population of 29.5 million (2018). The government announced that the price increase for bread was “unstoppable” but backed down after only a few days. To a certain extent, the subsidies on gasoline and electricity were also reintroduced. As a result of the crisis, the Minister of Agriculture was dismissed and replaced by the Minister of the Interior, who had taken a tough stance and defended the shootings during the unrest.
Earlier in the year, according to softwareleverage, Mozambique’s state power company and a Portuguese partner had signed a contract to expand the country’s electricity grid to a sum of about SEK 11 billion. The World Bank and the Norwegian government are largely responsible for the financing.
- Abbreviation Finder: Check to see how the two letter abbreviation of MZ stands for the country of Mozambique in geography.
HUMAN AND ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY
Southeast African state. At the last statistical survey in 1997, the population was equal to 16,099,246 residents. Despite the high birth rate (35.2 ‰ in 2005), the natural increase is contained due to the spread of AIDS, while, for the same reason, life expectancy for men has returned to below 40 years..
The civil war that between 1977 and 1992 caused about a million deaths had contributed significantly to relegating the economy of Mozambique to the poorest and most disadvantaged in the world. Thanks to international aid, starting from the mid-1990s, the country experienced a strong relaunch of production: growth was particularly noticeable in the early years of the century. 21st (GDP has risen on average by about 7 % per year) and has allowed per capita income to double compared to that recorded at the end of the conflict. The percentage of the population living below the poverty line dropped from 69 % in 1997 to 54% in 2004, and quality of life indicators have slowly begun to show symptoms of improvement. The government has enacted numerous structural reforms in order to stimulate productivity and attract private investors in sectors susceptible to growth: agriculture, manufacturing, mining and tourism. The construction of an 865 km gas pipeline that conveys the natural gas extracted in the province of Inhambane to the South African petrochemical industries, and that of a gigantic aluminum foundry, opened in Maputo to process Australian bauxite using energy, are the result of foreign investments. electricity drawn from the Cabora Bassa dam, on the Zambesi, a plant with over 1000employees who posed serious environmental problems. In addition, three major transport infrastructures are nearing completion: the Maputo Corridor, between Maputo and Johannesburg (South African Republic), the Beira Corridor, between Beira and Harare (Zimbabwe), and the Nacala-Lusaka axis (Zambia).