Inequality puts Mozambican business at risk

Road blocks and attacks on convoys travelling along the main north-south highway are symptoms of a very real threat to economic growth in Mozambique if the revenues generated by mining and gas in particular are not shared with the poor. The freight and shipping industries are directly in the line of fire. While the attacks are blamed on gunmen from the former rebel group Renamo, they are a symptom of growing discontent among the poor, who make up the vast majority of the people in the country. Despite impressive economic growth rates over the past few years, Mozambique remains one of the world’s poorest countries. According to the Rural Poverty Portal, eight million of Mozambique’s 23 million people were classified as “rural poor” in 2010. It is these people who work the land and live next to the road and rail links on which shippers in Mozambique and neighbouring countries rely. At this stage, with gas and oil revenues yet to start f lowing and coal mining affected by a combination of logistics bottlenecks, low prices and quality problems it is too early to tell whether Mozambique will be a success story like Botswana where diamond wealth is shared or Angola where only a few become super wealthy.