Mozambique stock and bond exchange chief Jussub Nurmamad has seen the value of his fledgling market increase 50 times since 1999 – the result, he says, of southern Africa’s stability and economic growth.
“For people to invest their money, you have to have stability,” he says. “Political stability is here. With the main exception of Zimbabwe – and that problem will not last forever – we have democracy. It’s a region of opportunity.”
Some analysts already speak of the region as forming an “economic subcontinent” increasingly attractive to foreign investors, with a decade of democracy in regional superpower South Africa reassuring investors.
In Maputo, construction materials sell out as private and corporate building booms. Mozambique’s economy grew by almost 8 percent in 2004 – the fastest growth in the region, and one of the best in the world – boosted by a string of major foreign funded industrial projects and debt relief.
More: alertnet.org
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