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Fueling Economic Growth in Mozambique                                                                  September 17, 2002
                          After more than 17 years of civil war, Mozambique emerged during the 1990s as one of the world’s poorest, most
                          debt-ridden countries. To offer better lives for its people, the government of Mozambique understood the need to
                          create jobs and attract investment in ways that would help rebuild a shattered society.

                          Today, Mozambique is the home to the single largest industrial investment in southern Africa, the $1.3 billion
                          aluminum smelter called Mozal. Built in the years after the end of the civil war, Mozal has involved a number of
                          investors and lenders, including the Industrial Development Corporation of South Africa, which was backed by a
                          $40 million guarantee from the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), an arm of the World Bank
Group.

Yet it is not the project’s size that makes Mozal so notable, but the tremendous impact it has had on the development of the host country. 
In 2001, the facility contributed an estimated 10 percent to Mozambique’s GDP growth, brought in new technical skills, created thousands
of jobs, and contributed to much needed local infrastructure development.

Mozal also contributes by adhering to good environmental and social practices.  Working in partnership with the government, NGOs, and
local communities, a special Mozal Trust is providing more than 17,000 local families with a host of services, including community
infrastructure, education and training, and health care services that aim to fight AIDS and malaria.

“Mozal’s shareholders believe that the measure of a successful project should go beyond world-class construction and operational
performance, to include world-class environmental and social ethical performance,” says Alcido Mausse, head of the Mozal Trust.
 
The Mozal project also has played an important role in creating a blueprint for assessing and processing foreign direct investment
proposals, strengthening the government’s capacity, and fostering a more responsive regulatory framework and investment climate. 
Thanks to the Mozal’s “demonstration effect,” foreign investors are considering  several new developments of more than $1 billion.


Related Links:
  Mozambique
  MIGA

Updated: September 2002