Bank of Mozambique steps out of Sociedade do Notícias, IGEPE takes over

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Bank of Mozambique steps out of Sociedade do Notícias, IGEPE takes over

12:53 CAT | 01 Sep 2017

The Bank of Mozambique has officially announced its departure from the shareholder structure of Sociedade do Notícias, which owns Domingo and Desafio weeklies and the Notícias daily newspaper.

According to mediaFAX, the Notícias shares are from now on managed by the Institute for the Management of State Holdings (IGEPE).

Lusa news agency reports that this move ends a link that dates back to colonial times, adding that, according to Mozambican press, the departure of the Banco de Moçambique from Sociedade Notícias is a demand of central bank governor Rogério Zandamela.

Zandamela, a technocrat of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) who took over the Banco de Moçambique in September 2016, argues that the central bank should focus on its main task, which is the regulation of the national financial system, not the management of companies.

Banco de Moçambique held 55 percent of Sociedade Notícias and the remaining shares are held by public companies Empresa Moçambicana de Seguros (EMOSE) and Petróleos de Moçambique (Petromoc).

The departure of the Banco de Moçambique from Sociedade Notícias was an old requirement of the country’s private media managers, who believed that this connection created a situation of unfair competition, since the regulator is a public entity, which receives resources from the State .

The presence of the Bank of Mozambique in Sociedade Notícias is a circumstance inherited from the colonial period, because this group was detained by Banco Nacional Ultramarino, who acted as the Central Bank of Portugal in the then colony of Mozambique.

With the independence of Mozambique in 1975, Banco Nacional Ultramarino’s assets were incorporated into Banco de Moçambique.

Changes in the newsrooms

There have also been personnel changes. Alfredo Dacala has moved from editorial director of Domingo to become editor-in-chief of Noticias, while journalist André Matola leaves the post of editor-in-chief and becomes editorial director at Domingo and António Mondlane, editor of Economia do Notícias, becomes editor-in-chief on Domingo.
Sociedade do Notícias has appointed Castro Furvela as director of production, Isabel Boavida as interim commercial director and Benedito Novela head of the Studies, Legal Counsel and Internal Audit Office.

Source: AIM / Lusa / Notícias