Mozambique: MDM dubs public debt restructuring “fraudulent management”

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Mozambique: MDM dubs public debt restructuring “fraudulent management”

12:22 CAT | 22 Mar 2018

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Mozambican Democratic Movement (MDM) spokesman Sande Carmona yesterday said that the government’s proposal to restructure hidden debts was the continuation of a “fraudulent management” plan.

In the spotlight is the Finance Ministry proposal, presented at a meeting with creditors in London on Tuesday, for a 50 percent (EUR $318 million) interest arrears write-off.

For the MDM, the first step in resolving the problem of debt unsustainability should be to press the institutions of justice to hold the authors of the illegal loans accountable.

“This process should have started from the judicial organs. The government should have called for speed with regard to accountability, which would facilitate any further request from any of the entities involved,” Carmona said.

“It is unfortunate that we have reached this stage,” he added.

Another party reaction to Mozambique’s meeting with creditors came from the Mozambican Liberation Front (Frelimo), the party in power.

Interviewed by Lusa, party spokesman Caifadine Manasse said he believed that the government’s intention was positive and that the strategies, which were “the will of the Mozambican people”, must be respected.

The proposal presented to the creditors by the Mozambican government showed interest in ensuring a good relationship with international partners, he added.

“We are grateful to the government for continuing to find ways, with international partners, for our country to continue to grow,” the Frelimo spokesman said, adding that “there are difficulties in every country”

Lusa tried, unsuccessfully, to obtain a comment from the Mozambican National Resistance (Renamo), the largest opposition party.

In the document submitted to creditors on Tuesday and to which Lusa has had access, Mozambique proposes a 50 percent write-off “on past interest and penalties, if any, and new maturities between eight and 16 years”.

A representative of the group of investors holding more than 80 percent of Mozambican public debt told financial news agency Bloomberg that the government’s proposal had been rejected.

Source: Lusa