Bank of Mozambique launches Real-time Gross Settlement Platform
The Mozambican state-owned company Proindicus failed to make a US$119.2 million repayment on its US$622 million loan on Tuesday, causing Mozambique to fall again into financial default.
“The conditions of Mozambique’s incapacity have not changed so the country is not in a position to pay the debts,” finance ministry spokesperson Rogerio Nkomo told Lusa in Maputo, confirming that what the ministry had warned of in January had indeed happened.
At that time, the finance ministry declined to pay a nearly US$60 million installment on the US$726.5 million of sovereign debt issued in April last year.
“It’s not a big surprise, it’s confirmation of what happened in January,” Eaglestone’s chief economist told Lusa, adding “that there would be no concrete data until the Kroll report” on the recently contracted ‘hidden loans’ was released.
The US$622 million loan to Proindicus, of which US$597.1 million remains unpaid, was arranged by the London branch of Credit Suisse, according to a finance ministry document released in November last year.
The agreement for the loan, which matures in March 2021 and entails a payment of a US$119.4 million every March 21 until then, was written by Clifford Chance LLP and Couto, Graça and Associates.
The state-guaranteed loan, like the Mozambique Asset Management loan, was contracted without entering the public accounts and without informing international donors, who suspended financial help on their discovery.
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