Maputo fair has SA businesses on the hunt
‘Opportune’ time to invest
SOUTH African businesses are hoping to capitalise on opportunities in Mozambique as competition back home intensifies, despite the country’s debt crisis and setbacks such as poor infrastructure and unfavourable budget policies.
Local companies already operational in Mozambique include Sasol and Shoprite, and those exhibiting at the Maputo International Trade Fair are hoping to settle in the country.
South Africa’s High Commissioner to Mozambique, Mandisi Mpahlwa, said now was the “opportune time for the South African companies to seek investment opportunities” and contribute to economic relations and ties between Maputo and Pretoria.
“The Mozambican economy is in the process of recovering from the challenges that it experienced last year,” Mpahlwa said. “The government has not only committed to ensuring that the expected economic growth of 4.6 percent for 2017 is achieved, but it is also reaching out to the private sector and soliciting its active participation and support as an important partner in stimulating the country’s economic growth.”
Mozambique is South Africa’s key economic partner and the third largest trade partner after Botswana and Namibia. Trade between SA and Mozambique reached about R43 billion in 2016.
“Our mission for going to Mozambique is twofold. We want to gain knowledge and insight into the market in the country and thereafter sit down and develop a strategy for converting the market knowledge into business,” Ronald Eboru, managing executive of Port Elizabeth-based Fred Footwear, said.
Other executives making up the 20 member business delegation said they were “optimistic that our products would attract the attention of business people who will be visiting the exhibition”.
They also added that they were “targeting supermarkets, wholesalers, retailers, and distribution agents so that we can negotiate long-term deals” for finished products.
Co-operation The Department of Trade and Industry (dti) said President Jacob Zuma and his Mozambican counterpart Felipe Nyusi “emphasised the need for increased economic co-operation and invited businesspeople from both countries to take advantage of the opportunities that exist in South Africa and Mozambique to invest and expand the existing business” at the meeting.
However, FocusEconomics said in its September 2017 Consensus Forecast for sub-Saharan Africa that Mozambique “remains in a fiscal pickle, following the audit into $2 billion of suspect loans” granted to state-owned companies.
“Our panel foresees growth of 4.4 percent in 2017, up 0.3 percentage points from last month’s forecast, and 5.2 percent in 2018,” said FocusEconomics analysts.