Mozambique plans to cut public spending in 2024 but estimates a deficit of 10.4%
Magazine Independente / Central Bank governor Rogério Zandamela
The governor of the Bank of Mozambique, Rogerio Zandamela, on Thursday vigorously defended his role in rescuing Moza Banco, once the fifth largest commercial bank in the country, from collapse.
Responding to a question at a Thursday evening press conference in Maputo, Zandamela brushed aside the claim by the Central Public Ethics Commission (CPEC) that there had been a conflict of interests in handing Moza Banco over to Kuhanha, the company that runs the central bank’s pension fund.
Moza Banco suffered a liquidity crisis in mid-2016 and was in danger of being unable to meet its obligations to its clients. The Bank of Mozambique stepped in, sacked its board of Directors, and installed a provisional board, under the chairmanship of one of the country’s most experienced bankers, Joao de Figueiredo.
When the existing shareholders, Mocambique Capitais (a grouping of about 400 Mozambican investors) and the Portuguese bank Novo Banco, proved unable or unwilling to capitalize the bank, an Evaluation Commission, set up by the central bank, received bids for Moza from other bodies interested in running the bank.
In May, the decision was taken to put Moza into Kuhanha’s hands, and make it responsible for recapitalizing the bank. Under the new shareholding structure, Kuhanha holds 80 per cent of Moza. The existing shareholders retain the other 20 per cent – 10 per cent for Novo Banco and 10 per cent for Mocambique Capitais.
Zandamela said this solution was the only way the bank could be saved from liquidation. He had therefore acted in the interests of the stability of the Mozambican financial system.
This led to an outcry in parts of the Mozambican press, with allegations that the deal constituted a conflict of interests. The CPEC investigated and agreed, merely because Zandamela is also chairperson of Kuhanha.
But Zandamela has no regrets. He told the press conference that neither he nor any other member of the Bank of Mozambique board had benefitted personally from the rescue of Moza Banco.
“In my life, if there is one thing that I shall be personally proud of, it is this”, he declared. He had helped complete the recapitalisation of Moza successfully, and it was now just like any other commercial bank. The matter was now closed, and the solution to the Moza crisis was “irreversible”.
“We worked hard, we were criticised, but we had to take decisions”, stressed Zandamela. “We don’t live on comments. It’s up to us to take the decisions, and I take responsibility for the decisions I make”.
“What we did was necessary for society”, he added. “It was right. It was miraculously right”.
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