Filipe Jacinto Nyusi (left), president of Mozambique, talks with an aide during a meeting at the U.N. headquarters
The draft Economic and Social Plan (PES) for 2017 approved this week in Maputo by the Mozambique government includes an economic growth forecast of 5.5 percent, said the spokesman for the Council of Ministers.
At the cabinet meeting the government also approved the draft state budget law (OGE) for 2017, and spokesman Mouzinho Saide said that one of the priorities for next year is to increase food production in response to the agricultural production deficit for this year due to adverse weather.
The PES stipulates measures to raise the quality of the financial and foreign exchange system, with the main objective of preserving the value of the Mozambican currency and macroeconomic stability, Saide said, quoted by Mozambican news agency AIM.
In relation to the State Budget, the spokesman said that it intends to maintain the principle laid down in the government program of maintaining the rates of the main taxes as well as maintaining restrictions implemented in 2016, with a view to keeping public spending at a sustainable level.
Other ongoing challenges of the State Budget proposal, according to Saide, are related to the need for further reforms to increase state revenues, efficiency and effectiveness of public expenditure, and to continue to prioritize allocation of resources for education, health, agriculture and social work. MDT/Macauhub
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