The Bank of Mozambique (BdM) has published its quarterly balance of payments report for the first quarter of 2024, which highlights a 2.5% reduction in imports of goods into the country, totalling around 127.2 billion meticais (equivalent to 2 billion dollars). This fall was recorded in both the general sectors and the large projects, with decreases of 1.8 billion and 1.4 billion meticais respectively.
The report details that intermediate, consumer and capital goods were the main categories affected. Imports of intermediate goods, which accounted for 30.2% of the total, fell by 16.6%, with notable reductions in spending on manure, fertilisers, electricity, fuels and raw aluminium. By contrast, there was an increase in imports of construction materials and tar.
In consumer goods, which made up 23.4% of imports, there was a 7.4% fall, with significant reductions in purchases of wheat, cooking oil and medical supplies, although imports of rice, car accessories and medicines increased.
On the other hand, capital goods recorded a 9.5% increase, driven by greater acquisition of miscellaneous machinery, mainly by companies outside the large projects.
In terms of origin of imports, South Africa remains Mozambique's main supplier, followed by China, the United Arab Emirates, India and Singapore, with variations in the types of products imported from each country.