2.5.2 Economic Stability 182. Another critical challenge is that of maintaining the economic stability that is evident in Mozambique’s current stable macroeconomic environment. Since the mid-1990s, the targets of high growth rates, low inflation and currency stability have been met and the government has won praise from its international partners for its tight control over public finance. As a result of this stability, Mozambique is likely to receive, and should use wisely, increased flows of foreign private capital, especially into the primary commodity sector. This is likely to result in increased wealth creation and prosperity in the country. 183. Although Mozambique’s main objective, like that of other countries, is economic stability, in particular in the form of sustainable growth, it should be noted that social problems can emanate from robust economic growth and cannot be “wished away” with good GDP growth alone. The key challenge for Mozambique would therefore be how to translate the relative economic stability that the country is currently enjoying into social cohesion. Investment in social cohesion is a long-term one that leads to the creation of wealth and additional economic stability. It should not be forgotten that economic stability also depends largely on social stability. 184. Traditionally, it has been recognised that economic stability influences wealth creation positively and is a conditio sine qua non for social cohesion. Indeed, history has demonstrated that economic stability is an essential platform for achieving social cohesion. 185. Policy makers and financial institutions often lose sight of the horizon and make economic stability and its prerequisites an end in itself, rather than the means to achieve sustainable, balanced economic and social cohesion. Thus, they often wrongly make economic aspects (such as inflation, public deficit control, exchange rate volatility, etc.) the central elements of their policies, without duly taking into account the collateral impact of these aspects on social cohesion. Some of the prerequisites for social cohesion, which should be universally accessible to all Mozambicans, include access to employment, health, education, clean water and sanitation, etc., with the reduction of poverty as the main defining element, as nearly half of the country’s population is currently living in poverty. 186. There is no doubt that a dynamic market economy, which Mozambique is currently promoting and which is necessary in today’s competitive and globalised environment, necessarily involves some degree of instability, as well as gradual structural change. However, investing in social capital and social cohesion is critical to the advancement of society as a whole. 84 A P R M COU N T RY R EV IEW R EP ORT NO. 11