IMF technical mission begins two-week visit to Mozambique today

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IMF technical mission begins two-week visit to Mozambique today

2:36 CAT | 13 Mar 2019

A technical mission from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) today begins a two-week visit to Mozambique, focusing on the country’s economic and financial situation, the organisation has said.

IMF representative in Mozambique Ari Aisen told Lusa that the pre-scheduled mission “is carried out under Article IV consultations, which occur with IMF member countries annually”.

Article IV requires IMF consultations with member countries in order to exercise their monitoring function and consequently offer advice on growth and economic stability, and dos not include financial assistance.

As early as January, Ari Aisen had told Lusa that relations between Mozambique and the IMF in 2019 would take place only under the provisions of Article IV.

At the beginning of the year, Minister of Economy and Finance Adriano Maleiane also said, that, even without a programme of financial aid or monitored support, Mozambique was nevertheless committed to meeting IMF targets in areas such as of fighting corruption and restructuring the public sector.

The IMF was one of the international organisations that suspended financial support for Mozambique in 2016 following the disclosure of undeclared loans taken on by state-owned companies amounting to US$ 2.2 billion, which made public debt unsustainable and provoked suspicions of corruption.

The IMF’s visit comes at a time when, after three and a half years without Mozambican justice institutions making any progress in the investigation, the US has had three international bankers, an intermediary and former Mozambican finance minister Manuel Chang arrested, triggering 11 other detentions in Mozambique.

Several analysts say the evidence allows the Lusophone country to free itself of obligations for more than half of the hidden debts, with the Mozambican Attorney General’s Office filing a lawsuit in London’s Westminster Magistrates Court with that in mind.

Source: Lusa