Official data indicate that the annual rate of expansion of Mozambican gross domestic product was 3.2 percent in the first half of this year, O País reports.

The Mozambican newspaper remarks that the economic growth rate is considerably slower than the 5.3 percent that the government has forecast for the whole year.

The report says official figures show that the value of Mozambican exports grew to US$1.18 billion in the first half, nearly 21 percent more than in the corresponding period last year.

First-half imports were worth US$1.4 billion, O País says.