Mozambique minister sees 8% GDP growth

Mozambique's economy grew by 6,7 percent year-on-year in the first half of 2008 and is still on track to achieve a targeted 8 percent expansion for the year, a government minister said on Wednesday.

Aiuba Cuereneia, Mozambique's Planning and Development Minister, said growth was expected to accelerate from the 7,5 percent achieved in 2007, despite flooding that hit the country's central and northern regions at the beginning of 2008.

"The economy grew by 6,7 percent in the first six months this year and it will be possible to achieve the 8 percent growth projected for this year considering that the government has taken measures to mitigate external shocks ... during the second half of this year," he told Reuters in an interview.

The southern African nation was one of the poorest in the world at the end of a 17-year civil war in 1992, but has enjoyed rapid growth over the past decade.

Cuereneia said inflation quickened to an average 10,4 percent in the first half of the year, spurred by higher food and fuel prices, after running at 7,5 percent in 2007.

The surge in global fuel costs has driven up prices across the board in Mozambique, he said, while the price of rice has risen to $331 a tonne this year from $115,5.

Mozambique's central bank said last month economic growth had slowed to 3,5 percent in the first quarter of 2008, weighed down by a 9 percent decline in manufacturing production.