Mozambique: Publicly-owned companies reduce State’s exposure to fiscal risks

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Mozambique: Publicly-owned companies reduce State’s exposure to fiscal risks

8:00 CAT | 01 Sep 2023

File photo: O País

Publicly-owned companies and their subsidiaries have reduced the Mozambican State’s exposure to fiscal risks, according to the Fiscal Risks Report for 2024.

The document, unveiled on Thursday by the Ministry of Economy and Finance, reveals that the State Business Sector has reduced the State’s exposure to fiscal risks, and this is due to the reduction in this sector’s debt stock from 22 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2021 to four per cent in 2022.

According to the report, the 18 percentage point reduction is explained by the regularization of assets of the natural gas projects in which the National Hydrocarbon Company (ENH) has a stake in the Rovuma Basin, off the coast of the northern province of Cabo Delgado.

In December 2021, the debt of state-owned and state-invested companies exceeded 200 billion meticais, and by December 2022 it had fallen to less than 50 billion meticais.

“The risks are concentrated in companies that systematically show negative net results and those that have negative equity”, explains the document, adding that direct exposure is related to guaranteed debt, such as Sovereign Guarantees, State Letters of Comfort, Sovereign Letters, State Guarantees and Retrocession Agreements.

While in 2021, five companies presented major risks to the state’s accounts), in 2022, only three companies – Mozambique Airlines (LAM), the public fuel company (PETROMOC) and the mobile phone company TMCEL – presented a large size of assets and a very high level of risk.

“These companies deserve greater attention from the state in 2023/2024, because they heavily expose public finances”, explains the document.

According to the Ministry of Economy and Finance, in 2022, retrocession contracts held by the State Business Sector fell from 5.4 per cent of GDP in 2021 to 4.8 per cent. But they are still higher than those recorded in the period between 2013 and 2017, when they varied between 3.8 per cent and 4.4 per cent of GDP.

“In terms of composition, the total value of the portfolio in retrocession contracts is concentrated in three entities, namely: the electricity company, EDM (3.1 per cent of GDP), the ports and rail company, CFM (0.9 per cent) and the airport company, [Aeroportos de Moçambique] ADM (0.7 per cent)”, reads the document.

Source: AIM