Mozambique: Manuel Soares appointed interim chairman of Moza Banco
Lusa (File photo)
Portugal’s main export insurance companies have admitted to Lusa that they are limiting operations in Angola and Mozambique due to the risk of default.
“We remain in the commercial area but obviously at increasing risk,” says Gomes da Costa, the president of COSEC, an insurer that specialises in covering for payments by importers in other countries.
“We started by being very restrictive, and it is likely that many operations will be refused. This doesn’t mean that we cannot authorize cover punctually, but these are situations we judge on a case by case basis,” says Fernando Branco, Portugal and Brazil director of Credit & Caucion.
Restrictions on cover that ensures that exporters receive the value of the goods if an importer does not pay is justified by financial difficulties in Angola and Mozambique, particularly the shortage of foreign exchange plaguing both countries.
“Angola has two problems – the risk of the Angolan importer and the risk of transfer,” Cosec’s Gomes da Costa explains. ” Difficulties with foreign exchange in Angola have led to Angolan importers defaulting because the banks do not have foreign currency, in this case euros.”
This is a political problem, however, which arises from the inability of the state to ensure access to foreign exchange. Angola though, the largest oil producer in sub-Saharan Africa, also exhibits a second problem.
“Angola also poses a commercial risk, which is the failure of the importer. That is, the buyer receives the goods but simply does not pay,” da Costa says.
“Exports have slowed down a bit, it is very difficult to charge, companies keep receiving, but things have slowed down enough,” explains Fernando Branco.
Angola and Mozambique, he says, “are not generically open markets. There is an additional political risk of non-transfer.” Although both countries are in trouble, “from a perception of risk point of view, Angola is a little better than Mozambique because it is still being aided by the International Monetary Fund”.
Exports from Portugal to Mozambique dropped 30 percent in the first quarter of this year, from 90 to 63 million euros, while sales to Angola decreased by 45 percent to 303.2 million euros.
Coface and Cesce, the other two big companies operating in the sector, did not answer Lusa’s questions in time for this report.
Leave a Reply
Be the First to Comment!
You must be logged in to post a comment.
You must be logged in to post a comment.