Mozambique and the ‘presource curse’

Mozambique may have to wait until 2021 for its ship to come in. (Anadarko)

The Resource Curse is a much talked-about phenomenon, but what about the ‘presource curse’ – when a country’s economy is derailed not by resource exports, but the mere prospect of them?

Mozambique is the latest country to fall victim to this ill. The government took out more than $2 billion in secret, state-backed loans in 2013 and 2014 on the assumption they would be easy to repay once gas revenues from its giant Rovuma Basin LNG projects started flowing in 2018. But that date always looked...