Mozambique: Minister refutes €24M in Covid funding gone missing
Reuters (File photo) / The Swedish ambassador was speaking to the press after a meeting with president Filipe Nyusi
Sweden’s ambassador to Mozambique, Irina Schoulgin, said yesterday that the audit of Mozambique’s public debt, which Sweden is funding, was proceeding smoothly, expressing optimism in the process.
“We are working with the Attorney General’s Office in Mozambique and the IMF in the audit process,” Schoulgin, who ends her two-year term in Mozambique in May, told the press after a meeting with President Filipe Nyusi in Maputo.
Noting that the “process is complicated”, Schoulgin said that the most important thing was to ensure the independence of the process, which is being undertaken by New York-based consultancy Kroll.
“It’s not easy, but it’s moving forward and we think it’s going to be all right,” she added.
The audit focuses on loans worth US$1.4 billion taken out in 2013 and 2014, and the US$727.5 million of sovereign debt that resulted from the conversion of corporate bonds issued by Mozambican Tuna Company (Ematum).
In February, the Mozambique attorney general’s office announced the extension of the audit period – initially 90 days – for another month at the request of Kroll. It is now expected that the work will be completed by the end of March.
An independent international audit of the so-called ‘hidden debts’ is one requirement of the IMF resuming support for Mozambique following the funding scandal in April 2016, which also led other state budget donors to discontinue payments.
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