Local Economic Development in Mozambique - Responsible Tourism: Critical Issues for Conservation and Development - page 5

Box 1.1 Objectives of PARPA
'The central objective of the Government is a substantial reduction in the levels of
absolute poverty in Mozambique through the adoption of measures to improve the
capacities of, and the opportunities available to all Mozambicans, especially the poor.The
specific objective is to reduce the incidence of absolute poverty from 70% in 1997 to
less than 60% by 2005 and less than 50% by the end of this decade' (Republic of
Mozambique, 2001, p1).
growth was 7.2 per cent in 2004, while GDP per capita grew at an average of 8
per cent per annum over the last decade. Annual inflation decreased from over 54
per cent in 1995 to 13.5 per cent in 2003 and 9.1 per cent in 2004. Socially, liter-
acy rates and school enrolment have all recorded significant increases, which are
reflected by an increase in government spending on education (USAID, 2007,
p1).
Despite these achievements, Mozambique remains one of the poorest
countries in the world and in 2004 per capita income was equal to $320 (UNDP,
2004). The economy remains largely dependent on international donor funding
and the lack of capacity of the government means that there is an over-reliance on
local economic development agencies to provide social services and local
economic projects. Agriculture is the prominent sector of employment accounting
for 80 per cent of all jobs in 2003 and contributing to 26 per cent of GDP (SNV
Mozambique, 2007, p3).
PARPA
The Government's PARPA is a series of five-year plans that act as the integrated
development plan of the country. The 2001-2006 plan aimed to substantially
reduce the levels of absolute poverty from 70 per cent of total population (1997)
to 50 per cent in 2010 (Republic of Mozambique, 2001, p1), whilst the
2006-2009 plan (PARPA II) is intended to reduce the incidence of poverty from
54 per cent in 2003 to 45 per cent in 2009 (Republic of Mozambique, 2005,
p1). 2,3 The main economic policy goal, therefore, links strong and broad-based
growth with poverty reduction. It acknowledges that whilst it has achieved
economic growth, social development remains unresolved.The PARPA states that
' the country remains one of the poorest in the world, and poverty clearly remains as the
key challenge facing the country. Our ability to address this challenge is still limited by a
severe scarcity of resources resulting from a serious structural weakness of the economy '
(Republic of Mozambique, 2001, p2). PARPA has identified rapid economic
growth as the catalytic force that will assist in addressing these concerns.
Therefore, to achieve these objectives, the government has asserted that
Mozambique needs to be viewed as a favourable environment for foreign invest-