Mozambique: Government pledges to collaborate with justice system in clarifying hidden debts

Login

Register

http://www.clubofmozambique.com/

Mozambique: Government pledges to collaborate with justice system in clarifying hidden debts

5:40 CAT | 09 Jun 2016

Mozambique’s prime minister said yesterday that the government would cooperate with the judicial system in helping to clarify the public debts that the previous administration had contracted without the approval of parliament and international financial institutions.

“The government will collaborate with administration of justice bodies in any way necessary to ensure proper clarification of the issues,” Carlos do Rosario told an extraordinary session of parliament yesterday.

The government, Rosario continued, respected and had full confidence in the work of administration of justice bodies and respect for the principle of the independence of the judiciary would guide its actions.

“The Attorney General of the Republic, in compliance with his constitutional and legal functions, carried out assessment procedures to determine the legality of the procedures in the process of setting up and financing of the Ematum, Proindicus and MAM companies,” the prime minister said.

The three companies benefited from most of the undisclosed debts amounting to over EUR1 billion that the Mozambican government, then headed by Armando Guebuza, contracted without the knowledge of parliament.

The Mozambican Minister of Finance said yesterday in parliament that the total volume of the country’s debt amounted to US$11.6 billion (EUR 10.1 billion), of which US$9.8 billion (EUR8.6 billion) was external debt and the remainder domestic.

This represents over 70 percent of gross domestic product, up from 42 percent in 2012.

The revelation of government-guaranteed loans contracted between 2013 and 2014 led the International Monetary Fund to suspend the second installment of a pre-agreed loan to Mozambique and cancel a visit to Maputo.

The G14 group of state budget donors, of which the UK is a member, also suspended its payments, followed by the US, which announced that it would review its bilateral support to the country.

Source: Lusa