afrol News, 6 January - The reforms of the judicial system in Mozambique are criticised for being too slow. According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the slow judicial reform in the country threatens "a pillar of the consolidation of those economic reforms underway" in Mozambique.

These opinions of the IMF were expressed in a report by the Fund regarding the Poverty Reduction and Growth Strategy, which has been formulated by the Mozambican government for the next three years. The report disclosed a disappointment by the IMF regarding the slow paste of reform in the country.

According to the IMF report, "the progress of reforms if the Mozambican judicial system has been slow." The document emphasises a need for faster reforms but also recognises the "necessity of an administration with efficient and swift justice which adds up with the creation of a favourable business environment."

The IMF holds that an efficient judicial system would become able to make the flow of economic operations more dynamic. This, for example would be achieved when the judiciary could guarantee that business contracts would be respected, and that coercion would be used if one of the parties did not observe the agreement.

In other observations made in the report, the IMF urged Mozambican authorities to open up several strategic sectors of the economy - namely the areas of the telecommunications, energy and airlines - to private participation. The IMF, controversially, commonly advises governments to privatise state businesses in its recipe for economic growth and poverty reduction.

In the same report, the IMF praises "the excellent progress registered in Mozambique regarding the reduction of poverty during the last years." A significant economic growth in the country had contributed to this poverty reduction.

The Fund nevertheless emphasised that, despite these advances, Mozambique will be able to reach several of the objectives defined in the UN's Millennium Development Goals. These goals foresee a reduction of poverty by 50 percent before 2015, in addition to access to education, clean water, health and other services for almost the entire population. Mozambique remains one of the world's poorest countries.

By staff writer

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