Bank of Mozambique says national banks should capitalise to participate in natural gas projects

Login

Register

http://www.clubofmozambique.com/

Bank of Mozambique says national banks should capitalise to participate in natural gas projects

9:46 CAT | 05 Dec 2016

Lusa (File photo) / A view of Maputo city

Mozambique’s central bank says national banks should increase their capitalisation so they can participate in the financing of natural gas projects, noting that the involvement of the national financial system in energy resources would be a bonus for the country.

Speaking at the Mozambique Gas Summit, an international conference on natural gas that ended on Friday in Maputo, Bank of Mozambique administrator Joana Matsombe pointed out that, so far, Mozambican financial institutions have participated in only about 16 percent of investments associated with natural gas research, more than 80 percent of which have been financed from overseas.

“National banking must be capitalised to take a larger share of the financing of investment in energy resources. Such involvement would boost the national financial system and broaden its returns,” she said.

Due to its small size, the Mozambican financial system was participating only marginally in natural resource projects. “There are some small things that national banks have financed in relation to gas industry mega-projects,” Matsombe said noted.

With investments of more than US$7 billion (more than EUR6.5 billion) in natural gas exploration, multinationals in the industry have resorted to foreign banks and shareholder resources for financing, she added.

Source: Lusa