Mozambique: Could the IMF back off? – Hanlon

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Mozambique: Could the IMF back off? – Hanlon

5:15 CAT | 26 Aug 2016

Satisfying the IMF remains key to resolving part of the secret debt crisis. When President Nyusi goes to the US 15-20 September and meets the gas companies, he hopes to ensure more than $1 bn in capital gains to fill the budget hole. He will also meet IMF head Christine Lagarde in Washington. The next IMF mission will arrive in Mozambique on 22 September. Zitamar (22 Aug) points out that “two of the Fund’s harshest critics of Mozambique are leaving their posts at the end of August.” Resident representative Alex Segura-Ubiergo has finished his three year term and will be replaced by Brazilian Ari Aisen, while the head of the Africa department, Antoinette Sayeh, is retiring. Both took the revelation of the secret debts as a personal affront. Nyusi will want two things from the IMF – that it does not require a forensic audit of how the money was used (thus protecting his predecessor Armando Guebuza and others in the Frelimo leadership who may have benefited), and that they accept that the capital gains tax can be used to plug the hole.

By: Joseph Hanlon

Source: News reports & clippings