Mozambique: Prime Minister speaks about peace, economy, conflict of interest – AIM report

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Mozambique: Prime Minister speaks about peace, economy, conflict of interest – AIM report

8:42 CAT | 02 Mar 2017

File photo / Prime Minister Carlos Agostinho do Rosario

“We must all work for peace to be lasting”, declared Mozambican Prime Minister Carlos Agostinho do Rosario at a Maputo press briefing on Wednesday.

“Indications are that we are on the right path”, he said, and there was movement “towards converting the current truce into a definitive ceasefire”.

The leader of the Renamo rebels, Afonso Dhlakama, after phone conversations with President Filipe Nyusi, declared a truce which took effect on 27 December. The truce expires on 4 March, but it seems certain to be extended.

“We are all called upon to join our efforts to attain peace”, declared Rosario.

Debt

He was upbeat about the prospects for the Mozambican economy, and believed that all the conditions exist to meet this year’s target of 5.5 per cent growth in the Gross Domestic Product. Inflation was now declining, and there was a slow recovery in the value of the Mozambican currency, the metical.

Rosario noted that the metical had been at around 80 to the US dollar in October, but has now recovered to 70 to the dollar. On Wednesday morning, the country’s largest commercial bank, the Millennium-BIM was quoting the metical at 68.55 to the dollar.

After sharp drops in 2016, Mozambique’s net foreign currency reserves have risen, and Rosario said they now stood at an amount sufficient to cover five months of imports of goods and non-factor services.

The Prime Minister believed that the government is making good progress in re-establishing confidence among the country’s international partners, following the crisis in mid-2016, when undeclared, government-guaranteed loans in excess of a billion dollars were discovered. Those loans, to the security related companies Proindicus and MAM (Mozambique Asset Management), led the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to suspend its programme with Mozambique, and all 14 partners who provided direct support to the Mozambican budget suspended all further disbursements.

Key to restoring trust is an independent audit of Proindicus, MAM and a third company that enjoyed a massive, government guaranteed loan, Ematum (Mozambique Tuna Company). That audit is in the hands of the US company Kroll, which enjoys a reputation as the world’s foremost forensic audit company.

“We all want the audit completed on time (by the end of March)”, said Rosario. “We are awaiting the results, but negotiations with the IMF are under way”.

Mozambique has been quite unable to service the Ematus, Proindicus and MAM debts, and that seems unlikely to change in the near future. “We will negotiate with the creditors to restructure these debts”, sad Rosario. “We want to honour our debts, but in a balanced way”.

Conflict of Interest

Asked about an apparent conflict of interest involving Transport Minister Carlos Mesquita, Rosario said there are appropriate institutions for dealing with such matters.

The company “Transportes Carlos Mesquita Ltd” (TCM) was one of four companies which, in February, were awarded transport contracts by the country’s relief agency, the National Disasters Management Institute (INGC). The TCM contract is worth 20 million meticais (about 292,000 US dollars). The Minister is one of the owners of the Mesquita Group, which is the main shareholder in TCM.

Mesquita himself has refused to answer accusations in the media that his involvement in TCM is a conflict of interests, and that he had violated the Law on Public Probity.

Rosario said this was a matter, not for the Prime Minister, but for the ethics commissions established under the law. But if it were proved that Mesquita had broken the law there would be consequences, since “nobody is above the law”, Rosario warned.

Source: AIM