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A report by the World Bank Group has revealed that Mozambique holds the largest natural gas deposits in Sub-Saharan Africa with over 20 billion barrels reserved in its deep waters.

“Natural gas fields in the deep waters of Mozambique have reserves higher than in Angola or Nigeria, the two largest oil producers in sub-Saharan Africa,” said the World Bank in its latest report Global Economic Prospects report, issued Tuesday in Washington.

The report also added that Sub-Saharan Africa grew moderately in 2014, at an average of 4.5 percent, compared with 4.2 percent in 2013. The reasons for the slowdown in the region, according to the report, are related to “the decline in global demand, low prices of raw materials, weak foreign direct investment, low business confidence, poor skills, particularly in terms of infrastructure along with the Ebola epidemic and the sharp decline in oil prices.”

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) recently explained that natural gas production could potentially boost Mozambique’s growth rate by 2 percent annually.

Besides gas, coal has proven another useful treasure to Mozambique. In 2012, it surpassed Zimbabwe to become the second-largest coal producer in Africa, only behind South Africa. Nonetheless, Mozambique’s coal production is equivalent to less than 2 percent of South Africa’s coal production.

Source: Atlanta Black Star