Maputo, Mozambique, 25 June – The International Monetary Fund (IMF) Tuesday pointed to Mozambique as “one of the few countries that is well-placed to meet the Millennium Development Goals,” provided it “firmly implements a second round of reforms.”

The IMF’s confidence in Mozambique’s capacity to meet the objectives, which the United Nations considers the way to reducing world poverty, by expanding local basic services, is part of an IMF assessment presented in Maputo, entitled “Sub-Saharan African Economies in the Post-Stabilisation Period – Lessons from Mozambique.”

A summary of the document, presented by Jean Clément, who recently headed an IMF mission that analysed in the field Mozambique’s progress in fighting poverty, said that the country was well on its way to reach those targets.

“Mozambique is one of the few sub-Saharan countries to appear well-placed to achieve the Millennium Development Goals set by the United Nations to reduce the rate of poverty by half by 2015,” Clément said.

The recovery of the Mozambican economy has allowed the country to now have the lowest levels of social inequality in Africa, by reducing poverty in rural areas, where most of the Mozambican population lives.

Despite the good performance, Mozambique is still faced with high levels of absolute poverty in rural areas and per capita income, as well as human development indicators, remain relatively low, the IMF said.

In order to change this scenario and effectively reach the MDGs, the country must focus on a second round of reforms, based on “correcting the large deficits in terms of human capital and infrastructure,” the document said. (macauhub)