Publication:
Republic of Mozambique: Systematic Country Diagnostic

Loading...
Thumbnail Image
Files in English
English PDF (2.83 MB)
1,260 downloads
English Text (530.14 KB)
118 downloads
Published
2016-06
ISSN
Date
2016-07-14
Editor(s)
Abstract
This Systematic Country Diagnostic (SCD) is designed to assess the key constraints and opportunities facing Mozambique as it strives to sustain robust growth and macroeconomic stability while accelerating poverty reduction and promoting greater economic inclusiveness. The SCD is organized into six chapters. Chapter two describes the evolution of poverty and inequality, explores their regional and demographic dimensions, and identifies strategies for accelerating poverty reduction. Chapter three analyzes key economic constraints and opportunities, identifying the drivers of recent growth, describing developments in the real sector and assessing emerging challenges associated with the rise of the extractive industries. Chapter four examines the inclusiveness of growth, presenting an in-depth analysis of the labor market, the social sectors and the ongoing urbanization process. Chapter five discusses fiscal, institutional, political, social and environmental risks to the sustainability of growth and poverty reduction. Chapter six completes the analysis by identifying a set of priority objectives for accelerating progress on the World Bank’s twin goals of eliminating extreme poverty and promoting shared prosperity.
Link to Data Set
Citation
World Bank Group. 2016. Republic of Mozambique: Systematic Country Diagnostic. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/24696 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.
Digital Object Identifier
Associated URLs
Associated content
Report Series
Other publications in this report series
Journal
Journal Volume
Journal Issue

Related items

Showing items related by metadata.

  • Publication
    Bangladesh
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2015-10-25) World Bank Group
    Situated in a fertile low-lying river delta, Bangladesh combines high vulnerability to floods, tropical cyclones, earthquakes, and climate change with one of the world’s highest population densities, with around 159 million people living in less than 150,000 sq. km. With the world’s second lowest per capita income in 1975, it was labeled ‘the test case for development’ in view of the formidable development challenges it faced. Nevertheless, Bangladesh has proven to be remarkably resilient, developing well beyond initial expectations, and has made very good progress with poverty reduction. GNI per capita has grown from around US$100 in 1972 to US$1,314 in 2015, and the country crossed the World Bank threshold for the lower-middle-income group in 2015. As highlighted in the Seventh Five Year Plan background paper on ending extreme poverty, the agricultural labor market in Bangladesh tightened significantly in the decade of 2000s, which led to an increase in the real agricultural wage rate. Three main channels were the primary contributors: (a) relocation of farm labor to rural non-farm sectors; (b) relocation of rural labor to urban activities through the ‘pull effects’ of urbanization, creating employment opportunities for the extreme poor in labor-intensive construction and transport activities; and (c) jobs for the poor created in the manufacturing sector. Robust inflows of remittances from overseas workers contributed to spurring the creation of non-farm employment opportunities in rural areas.
  • Publication
    Sri Lanka
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2015-10) World Bank Group
    Between 2002 and 2012-13, most of the reduction in poverty was due to increased earnings, as opposed to higher employment or higher transfers. Although it is hard to be certain, increases in earnings are associated with: (i) a slow structural transformation away from agriculture and into industry and services that led to productivity increases; (ii) agglomeration around key urban areas that supported this structural transformation; (iii) domestic-driven growth, including public-sector investment that led to increases in labor demand, particularly in industry and services; and (iv) a commodity boom that led to higher labor earnings for agricultural workers in the context of lower agricultural employment. Sri Lanka’s has had impressive development gains but there are strong indications that drivers of past progress are not sustainable. Solid economic growth, strong poverty reduction, overcoming internal conflict, effecting a remarkable democratic transition in recent months, and overall strong human development outcomes are a track record that would make any country proud. However, the country’s inward looking growth model based on non-tradable sectors and domestic demand amplified by public investment cannot be expected to lead to sustained inclusive growth going forward. A systematic diagnostic points to fiscal, competitiveness, and inclusion challenges as well as cross-cutting governance and sustainability challenges as priority areas of focus for sustaining progress in ending poverty and promoting shared prosperity.
  • Publication
    Sri Lanka Ending Poverty and Promoting Shared Prosperity
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2016-02-01) World Bank Group
    Sri Lanka is in many respects a development success story. With economic growth averaging more than 7 percent a year over the past five years on top of an average growth of 6 percent the preceding five years, Sri Lanka has made notable strides towards the goals of ending extreme poverty and promoting shared prosperity (the ‘twin goals’). The national poverty headcount rate declined from 22.7 to 6.7 percent between 2002 and 2012/13, while consumption per capita of the bottom 40 percent grew at 3.3 percent a year, compared to 2.8 percent for the total population. Other human development indicators are also impressive by regional and lower middle-income country standards. Sri Lanka has also succeeded in ending decades of internal conflict in 2009 and steps have been taken towards reconciliation. Sri Lanka’s has had impressive development gains but there are strong indications that drivers of past progress are not sustainable. Solid economic growth, strong poverty reduction, overcoming internal conflict, effecting a remarkable democratic transition in recent months, and overall strong human development outcomes are a track record that would make any country proud. However, the country’s inward looking growth model based on non-tradable sectors and domestic demand amplified by public investment cannot be expected to lead to sustained inclusive growth going forward. A systematic diagnostic points to fiscal, competitiveness, and inclusion challenges as well as cross-cutting governance and sustainability challenges as priority areas of focus for sustaining progress in ending poverty and promoting shared prosperity.
  • Publication
    Transforming Vietnamese Agriculture
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2016-04) World Bank Group
    Over the past quarter century, Vietnam’s agricultural sector has made enormous progress. Vietnam’s performance in terms of agricultural yields, output, and exports, however, has been more impressive than its gains in efficiency, farmer welfare, and product quality. Vietnamese agriculture now sits at a turning point. The agricultural sector now faces growing domestic competition - from cities, industry, and services - for labor, land, and water. Rising labor costs are beginning to inhibit the sector’s ability to compete globally as a low cost producer of bulk undifferentiated commodities. Going forward, Vietnam’s agricultural sector needs to generate more from less. That is, it must generate more economic value - and farmer and consumer welfare - using less natural and human capital and less harmful intermediate inputs. The strategic shift was highlighted in the government’s agricultural restructuring plan (ARP), approved by the Prime Minister in June 2014. The ARP defines sector goals in terms of the triple bottom line of economically, socially, and environmentally sustainable development. It lays out expected changes in the roles and spending patterns of the government in the sector and discusses the need to work with other stakeholders, including in the private sector. It calls for an ambitious and ongoing process of learning and experimentation, and several potential directions are offered in this report.
  • Publication
    Country Partnership Framework for Sri Lanka for the Period FY17-FY20
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2016-05-31) World Bank; International Finance Corporation; Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency
    The new Country Partnership Framework (CPF or framework) presents the engagement of the World Bank Group (WBG) in Sri Lanka over the next four years (fiscal years 2017-20 (FY17–20)). The CPF aims to support the achievement of some of the government’s medium-term goals in areas that are critical for reducing extreme poverty and promoting shared prosperity, and that are consistent with the WBG’s comparative advantage. Notably, the CPF provides the framework for engagement in several key policy areas. Following presidential and parliamentary elections in 2015, the new coalition government, the National Government of Consensus, has set out an ambitious vision for Sri Lanka. It focuses on supporting job creation in the private sector, advancing the country’s global integration, improving governance, enhancing human development and social inclusion, and balancing development with environmental conservation. The vision has been captured in the Prime Minister’s Economic Policy Statement of November 5, 2015. The new government’s development agenda is well aligned with the findings of the 2015 Systematic Country Diagnostic (SCD) for Sri Lanka. The SCD identified the most critical constraints and opportunities facing Sri Lanka in accelerating progress toward the twin goals of ending extreme poverty and promoting shared prosperity in a sustainable manner. The analysis concluded that key priorities are to address the country’s fiscal, competitiveness, and inclusion challenges, as well as cross-cutting governance and social, economic, and environmental sustainability challenges. The CPF is anchored in this analysis.

Users also downloaded

Showing related downloaded files

  • Publication
    Digital Africa
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2023-03-13) Begazo, Tania; Dutz, Mark Andrew; Blimpo, Moussa
    All African countries need better and more jobs for their growing populations. "Digital Africa: Technological Transformation for Jobs" shows that broader use of productivity-enhancing, digital technologies by enterprises and households is imperative to generate such jobs, including for lower-skilled people. At the same time, it can support not only countries’ short-term objective of postpandemic economic recovery but also their vision of economic transformation with more inclusive growth. These outcomes are not automatic, however. Mobile internet availability has increased throughout the continent in recent years, but Africa’s uptake gap is the highest in the world. Areas with at least 3G mobile internet service now cover 84 percent of Africa’s population, but only 22 percent uses such services. And the average African business lags in the use of smartphones and computers as well as more sophisticated digital technologies that catalyze further productivity gains. Two issues explain the usage gap: affordability of these new technologies and willingness to use them. For the 40 percent of Africans below the extreme poverty line, mobile data plans alone would cost one-third of their incomes—in addition to the price of access devices, apps, and electricity. Data plans for small- and medium-size businesses are also more expensive than in other regions. Moreover, shortcomings in the quality of internet services—and in the supply of attractive, skills-appropriate apps that promote entrepreneurship and raise earnings—dampen people’s willingness to use them. For those countries already using these technologies, the development payoffs are significant. New empirical studies for this report add to the rapidly growing evidence that mobile internet availability directly raises enterprise productivity, increases jobs, and reduces poverty throughout Africa. To realize these and other benefits more widely, Africa’s countries must implement complementary and mutually reinforcing policies to strengthen both consumers’ ability to pay and willingness to use digital technologies. These interventions must prioritize productive use to generate large numbers of inclusive jobs in a region poised to benefit from a massive, youthful workforce—one projected to become the world’s largest by the end of this century.
  • Publication
    Philippines Economic Update, December 2024
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-12-10) World Bank
    The Philippines was one of the fastest-growing economies in EAP, with GDP growth increasing to 5.8 percent in Q1-Q3 2024 (5.6 percent in Q1-Q3 2023). Services continued to lead growth, mainly financial services, wholesale and retail trade, and business services. Industry growth increased as manufacturing benefited from the slight recovery in goods exports and solid domestic demand. Increased construction activity likewise bolstered industry and investment growth due to strong public infrastructure spending. However, agriculture contracted due to the impact of extreme weather events, highlighting the sector’s vulnerability to climate shocks and longstanding structural challenges resulting in low productivity. On the demand side, faster growth of government spending supported growth driven by improved program execution. Household consumption growth, while still the main driver of growth, edged down compared to a year ago due to inflationary pressures in key staple commodities and tight financing conditions. The Philippines Economic Update (PEU) summarizes key economic and social developments, significant policy changes, and the evolution of external conditions over the past six months. It also presents findings from recent World Bank analyses, situating them in the context of the country’s long-term development trends and assessing their implications for its medium-term economic outlook. The update covers issues ranging from macroeconomic management and financial-market dynamics to poverty reduction and social development challenges. It is intended to serve the needs of a wide audience, including policymakers, business leaders, private firms and investors, and analysts and professionals engaged in the social and economic development of the Philippines.
  • Publication
    Import Demand Elasticities and Trade Distortions
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2004-11) Kee, Hiau Looi; Nicita, Alessandro; Olarreaga, Marcelo
    To study the effects of tariffs on gross domestic product (GDP), one needs import demand elasticities at the tariff line level that are consistent with GDP maximization. These do not exist. The authors modify Kohli's (1991) GDP function approach to estimate demand elasticities for 4,625 imported goods in 117 countries. Following Anderson and Neary (1992, 1994) and Feenstra (1995), they use these estimates to construct theoretically sound trade restrictiveness indices, and GDP losses associated with existing tariff structures. Countries are revealed to be 30 percent more restrictive than their simple or import-weighted average tariffs would suggest. Thus, distortion is nontrivial. GDP losses are largest in China, Germany, India, Mexico, and the United States.
  • Publication
    Protecting Women and Girls from Cyber Harassment
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2023-06-22) Affoum, Nelsy Reyhanne Marikel; Santagostino Recavarren, Isabel Micaela; Vohra, Nayantara; Wodon, Quentin
    Cyber violence against women has been rising at alarming rates in recent decades. Such acts not only harm women as individuals but have severe detrimental effects on society and the economy at large. This Brief analyzes laws from 190 economies to assess the extent and coverage of current legislative safeguards women from cyber harassment, one of the many forms of cyber violence. Data collected by the World Bank Group’s Women, Business and the Law project reveals that laws that protect women against cyber harassment exist in only about one-third of economies, covering less than half of the population of children, adolescent girls, and women. Enhancing legal protections is crucial to effectively tackle cyber violence against women.
  • Publication
    Female-Worker Representation Effect
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2023-07-05) Bilo, Simon; Nguyen, Ha; AlAnsari, Ebtesam; AlHumaidan, Lama; AlRashidi, Faleh; Ajwad, Mohamed Ihsan
    Kuwaiti women working in Kuwait’s civil service earn, on average, 18 percent less than Kuwaiti men. Using a unique data set of all Kuwaiti nationals working in Kuwait’s civil service, this paper analyzes the relationship between wages, gender, and the relative dominance of women in occupations and workplaces. The main finding is that an important portion of the association between gender and wages is explained not by human capital but by occupational and workplace segregation of men and women. Occupations with a higher ratio of women to men tend to have lower wages for both genders when compared to workers in occupations with a lower ratio of women to men. This finding is especially true for women. Workplaces with a higher female-to-male ratio exhibit lower male wages but slightly higher female wages than workplaces with lower female-to-male workplace ratios. The paper calls this latter novel finding the female-worker representation effect.