From CNBC Africa
Mozambique needs to address the challenges facing its small to medium-sized businesses. “The rest of the country, which really depends on the small and medium-sized businesses for its growth and for its employment generation, is still lagging quite far behind. The imbalances look as if they’re likely to grow rather than diminish,” Colin Waugh, a partner at SCP Africa, told CNBC Africa.
“We’ve had, just in the last few weeks, the release of the World Bank’s Doing Business report, which shows Mozambique has improved very slightly from the 142nd position to 139th in the world – [its] not really an encouraging indicator. At the same, a lot of the obstacles which small businesses have often cited in the past, such as high interest rates for access to credit, really haven’t improved.”
Mozambique voted in largely peaceful municipal elections on Wednesday. This comes after tension and violence in past months between the government and the main opposition group.ent and the main opposition group.
“The election results are still coming in but most of the big cities, the big municipalities have already given clear indication of which way they’re going. There’s been a big transformation in the opposition alignment from former main opposition party Renamo, who still hold the second highest number of seats in parliament, to the new Movement for Democratic Mozambique, who have boosted their showing right across the country quite dramatically,” Waugh explained.
“It’s a big change in the Mozambican landscape and I think it means there’ll be an exciting presidential election this time next year.”
Written by Nicole Cassandra Naidoo/Read more at CNBC Africa
