Mozambique's Budget Feels the Pinch of a Million New People a Year

Mozambique's budget is under pressure from a population growing by almost a million people a year, Finance Minister Carla Louveira told the UN High-Level Political Forum in New York last week. The pace of urbanization is outpacing the state's ability to fund schools, hospitals, housing, and transport, she said.

Economic growth has stalled, Louveira said. The stalled expansion makes it harder to finance the infrastructure that new suburbs require.

Louveira acknowledged that migration from rural areas will continue as long as the income gap persists. A security guard in Maputo earns a minimum wage of MZN8,000 a month. Some smallholder farmers earn as little as MZN1,200. "As long as that gap persists, migration will continue regardless of official policy," she said.