Mozambique - 2021 Systematic Country Diagnostic : Coming Together for a Better Future (English)

A series of natural disasters—the two cyclones (Idai and Kenneth) that hit Mozambique in 2019 and COVID-19 in 2020—added to the macroeconomic challenges, erasing a good portion of the social gains that the country had made at the beginning of the decade and worsening the prospects for human capital development. [...] The SCD Update modifies the analytical framework underlying the SCD by organizing the development narrative for Mozambique around the three themes of private sector development with a special focus on linkages to the gas sector, the sustainable management of natural assets, and the rural economy and human capital. [...] The first step uses the list of priorities identified in the 2016 SCD as a starting point to assess progress, reevaluate their level of priority, and validate their urgency in light of the events that have reshaped the development agenda of the country in the last five years. [...] For this part, the following five criteria are considered (1) essential preconditions, (2) fiscal feasibility and affordability (due to the tight fiscal space in the short to medium term, (3) synergies across pathways, (4) potential for bolstering the confidence of citizens and domestic and foreign investors, and (5) potential to support the resolution of the conflict in the north. [...] Constraint B: Weak transparency, a weak data environment, and insufficient oversight and accountability of public financial management and state-owned enterprises undermine the Cross-cutting pathway: Strengthening the accountability efficiency and efficacy of public resources in providing key public and efficiency of the governance framework and goods and dent confidence in the state.