Floods may reduce Mozambique's economic growth:IMF

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) says on Saturday that this year's floods in the central and northern regions of Mozambique may compromise the country's economic growth in 2015.

Currently, economic growth in Mozambique stands at 7.5 percent annually. "Perspectives still continue positive, but the floods may reduce the growth of the economy," said the IMF resident representative in Maputo, Alex Segura-Ubiergo, on Saturday.

According to him, various infrastructures have been hampered by the calamities in the two regions, including roads and bridges, thousands of hectares of planted land, power pylons, homes, among others, mainly in Zambezia province.

The floods also hit the central provinces of Sofala and Manica, as well as Tete. Others are the northern provinces of Nampula, Cabo Delgado and Niassa.

For Segura, the great majority of people are peasant farmers, and the country depends on agriculture which has been seriously hit by the calamities.

"Agriculture and energy play a big role in the country's economy. And these sectors are among the seriously hit by the floods. So, there will be a negative impact on the economy," he said.

Mozambique's economy is among the fastest growing ones in the Sub-Saharan Africa, according to the IMF.

The death toll in the floods now stands above 100, according to the report of the local Mozambican Television (TVM).

The number of the people affected by the downpours stands at more than 200,000. The authorities have still no exact number of hectares of planted land destroyed by the floods countrywide. Endi