China was the fifth-largest foreign direct investment (FDI) contributor in Mozambique last year, the Chinese Embassy in the African country said earlier this week.

The Embassy quoted Mozambique’s Investment Promotion Centre saying in a statement that FDI from China totalled US$72.8 million last year, accounting for 2.93 percent of the country’s US$2.48-billion total in FDI.

Macao was Mozambique’s seventh-largest FDI contributor in 2014 with US$27 million. Portugal was ranked fourth with FDI worth US$336.4 million.

The United Arab Emirates and Mauritius topped the list last year with US$891 million and US$547.1 million of FDI respectively, the promotion centre was quoted saying.

The centre added it expects Mozambique’s gross domestic product to grow between 6.5 percent and 7 percent this year. That is between 0.5 and 1 percentage point lower than its previous forecast. The severe floods that affected the country earlier this year “will have some impact on the economy”, the centre stated.