The East African country of Mozambique imported fuel products worth a total of $199.5 million in the first three months of 2025, about 15% of the total amount spent for the entire year of 2024.
This was disclosed in a statistical report issued by the Bank of Mozambique and reviewed by Energy in Africa.
According to the report, diesel was the most imported fuel during the period at $122.3 million, followed by petrol at a total cost of $65.8 million.
During the first quarter, fuel alone accounted for nearly 50% of the $556.9 million the country spent on the imports of intermediate goods.
This commodity category includes oil and lubricants, fertilizer, cement and tar, electricity, aluminium, and construction materials.
In the early months of the year, Mozambique faced a fuel supply crisis because of a lack of foreign exchange in the market.
This prompted the country’s central bank to roll out measures to help boost the availability of foreign currency to cover import requirements.
In 2024, the cost of fuel imports into Mozambique fell 15% to the equivalent of $1.198 billion, compared to the $1.417 billion seen in the entire year of 2023.
Its highest bill on fuel imports in recent years was in 2022 at $1.966 billion, with the 2024 figure being the lowest level after the COVID-19.
Nevertheless, the performance reflected in the over 4% decline in the Mozambican economy in the fourth quarter of 2024, when post-election protests rocked the country.
About 40% of Mozambique’s population currently lack access to electricity, leaving many dependent on the use of fossil-powered generators.
In a bid to meet the existential demand, the government in July opened a public consultation for a new gas-powered 200MW power plant in Nacala-Porto district, located in
What you should know
In 2024, economic activities saw a sharp decline in Mozambique, worsening living conditions for one of the world’s most socially unequal countries.
Beside the severe droughts and cyclones that ravaged the country, the finance ministry also acknowledges the negative impact of the post-election protests recorded in the last quarter of 2024.
“Gross Domestic Product at market prices (GDPpm) showed a negative variation of 4.87% in the fourth quarter of 2024, compared to the same period in 2023, totalling 1.85% for the year,” says the 2024 budget execution report from the Ministry of Finance.
In June 2023, the Bank of Mozambique announced the removal of subsidies begun since 2005 on fuel import invoices, shifting the responsibility instead to commercial banks.
The invoice system had become quite fragmented, allowing smaller banks to enter “the fuel financing market”.
Despite the strong economic headwinds in 2024, Mozambique’s gas exports jumped by 14% to $1.967 billion.
The revenue growth resulted from an increase in gas exports from Area 4 of the Rovuma Basin, one of the largest untapped reserves in the world.
The region hosts three mega-gas development projects. But Coral Sul, operated by Italian Eni, was the only major producing gas project as of last year.
This project alone has fetched Mozambique over $200 million in revenue since it was started in late 2022.
