Economy
Carlos M. Lopes Carlos Sangreman
Abstract This paper aims to analyse the urban economy of Luanda and Maputo and is structured along two strings of inquiry:
- The impact of the increased concentration of population in Luanda and Maputo upon the urban macroeconomy of these two cities;
- The combined impact of war, rapid population growth and stabilisation and structural adjustment policies upon:
- The structure of economic activities: handicrafts, agriculture, industry, services and commerce, with special emphasis on the informal sector;
- The evolution of (both formal and informal) entrepreneurial activities. This approach was based on empirical research conducted at two different levels:
- A comparative assessment of the economic structure and urban macroeconomy of Luanda and Maputo;
- A comparative analysis and assessment of the productive fabric and economic structure of three selected suburban districts in each of these two capitals, as well as of their integration into the wider urban economies of the two cities.
With regard to methodology, we have opted to combine data gathered by already existing literature with information obtained through the project's own fieldwork (open and semi-structured interviews and questionnaires). We have come to conclude that, in the context of accelerated urban concentration brought about by the combined impact of war and of the political and economic changes, the increasing degree of informality and terciarisation, along with the increasing level of poverty, act as major constraints both on the emergence of a favourable macroeconomic environment and on the economic expansion that the economic liberalisation policies seek to induce. We further stress the fact that in a context of generalised poverty - as occurs in Luanda and Maputo - the adoption of economic liberalisation programmes based on a significant reduction of the socioeconomic intervention capacity of the State neither fosters development nor leads to an improvement of the urbanites' livelihood conditions. On the contrary, these programmes have some quite substantial, adverse effects, particularly upon employment, income distribution and the expansion of the informal economy (the source of precarious survival of the majority of the urban and suburban populations).
The hybrid and composite nature of the urban economies of Luanda and Maputo, in which the informal sectors have a significant weight and play a relevant social and economic role, is the most relevant feature that this research reveals. This feature implies the need to bare in mind the various forms of economic and social syncretisms, in order to generate development opportunities.
