Strengthening the Creative Industries for Development in ... - unctad

48 PART 4. SECTOR SPECIFIC OVERVIEW
decided that a certain percentage of books should be published in Mozambique. 114 Books are exempt
from taxes but all intermediary services to make books are taxed. Although sources diverge on this
point, there are currently no taxes on educational books when they are imported. There is a plan for tax
reductions on ink, paper and other materials necessary for publishing, but this fiscal policy has not yet
been implemented by the government. The government has liberalized the publishing of school books.
One major obstacle for the development of the publishing sector is language and the limitation of
Portuguese because there is no large market. Publishers indicated that they only go to fairs in Portugal
and Brazil; otherwise they have problems with language. There is also a need to cultivate a book
culture. It was also noted that local language publications are not exported to neighbouring countries,
although in theory they could be. Mozambican books are often more expensive than imported
Brazilian books. Finally, discussions with stakeholders also clearly indicated the need for capacitybuilding,
in particular in the area of graphic design. 115
Given the information gathered, it seems that the potential of the publishing and book sector lies
primarily within the national markets. In this respect it can be considered for its contribution to
national employment. In spite of the comparatively strong literary culture in Mozambique, the
potential of this sector for export does not seem especially high. Even the possibility of electronic
publishing seems to lie more in the long-term given the relatively low rate of accessibility to computer
technology and Internet access.
Paradoxically, according to available trade data, the publishing sector leads the exports of creative
goods from Mozambique, as shown in chart 7 below.
Chart 7. Exports of creative goods from the publishing sector, 2003-2008
(in millions of US)
3.5
3
2.5
2
1.5
1
0.5
0
Mozambique exports creative goods from Publishing sector
2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
Source: UNCTAD global database on the creative economy
Publishing
4.4 OTHER POTENTIAL SECTORS
In addition to the sectors noted above, there are other creative industries with economic potential that
deserve attention. Noteworthy are visual arts, fashion and the music industry. It should be pointed out
that music comes under the category of performing arts, which is one of the pre-designated project
sectors. However, as noted in the introduction, it has been excluded as a primary target sector for this
project because it is covered under the “One UN” MDG-F project, as is the crafts sector. Likewise, as
you will see many of the predetermined sectors in the project are not position as priority sectors
according to UNCTAD's trade data.
114 Education Division, MEC. Maputo, 4 September 2008.
115 Stakeholders’ meeting, Maputo, 2 September 2008.