Mozambique’s trade balance recorded a significant improvement in the first quarter of 2025, with the deficit reduced by 9.8% compared with the same period of the previous year. According to the Bank of Mozambique report, seen by the Lusa news agency, the negative balance fell to 546.2 million dollars, a sign of economic resilience in the face of a still demanding external environment.
The main driver of this development was the performance of the Current Account, whose deficit fell by 15.7%, settling at 580.1 million dollars. This relief results, to a large extent, from the marked improvement in the goods account, whose negative balance decreased by 91.8%. This was due to a combination of two factors: a 4.8% increase in exports and a 7.3% reduction in imports.
The primary income account also contributed to this more favourable picture, with the deficit decreasing by 18.9% and now standing at 459.3 million dollars. The 19.8% fall in investment income, above all that associated with capital outflows by the Major Projects (GP), helped to ease the imbalance. This reduction occurred both in profits and dividends remitted abroad and in interest paid to direct investors.
Despite this progress in the balance of goods and services, the financial account recorded a decrease in net inflows, totalling 612 million dollars, which represents a year-on-year fall of 27%. The central bank attributes this reduction to the heavy acquisition of net assets, worth 1,102 million dollars, through debt instruments classified as "Other Investment".
However, transactions associated with the Major Projects showed dynamism, with an increase of 355.8 million dollars, at a time when Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) rose to 1,626 million dollars.
Even with this performance, Mozambique’s net debtor position vis-à-vis the rest of the world worsened. At the end of June 2025, it reached 71,412 million dollars, an increase of 604 million dollars compared with December of the previous year.
