Mozambique: Over 20% of foreign debt is with China, Portugal – government report

Login

Register

http://www.clubofmozambique.com/

Mozambique: Over 20% of foreign debt is with China, Portugal – government report

11:11 CAT | 24 Oct 2023

File photo: O País

More than 20% of external debt contracted by Mozambique up until the end of June was with China and Portugal, totalling almost US$2.2 billion.

According to the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF) report on public debt released this Monday (23-10) Mozambique had, at the end of the first half of this year, externally contracted public debt totalling more than US$10.2 billion, down 2.9% compared to the first quarter.

Of this total, 52.1% (US$5.3 billion) was external public debt contracted with multilateral creditors, an increase of 6.5% compared to the first quarter. However, US$3 billion alone correspond to financing from the International Development Association, from the World Bank group.

The weight of bilateral creditors is 39% of the total external public debt, which at the end of June amounted to US$3.9 billion, almost 1% less than at the end of March.

China alone holds 15.8% of all of Mozambique’s external public debt, totalling more than US$1.6 billion, unchanged from the first quarter, while Portugal held 4.4% of the total, worth US$452.3 million, a reduction of 4.7% in the space of three months.

Mozambique’s other major bilateral creditors include Libya, with US$253.3 million, Angola (US$61.4 million), Brazil (US$47.4 million) and Russia, with nearly US$56 million.

Source: Lusa