Watch record-breaking ship arrive at Port of Beira, Mozambique
Photo: O País
Mozambique’s prime minister, Carlos Agostinho do Rosário, said today that the executive was in contact with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank (BM) to mobilize the necessary resources to fight Covid-19.
“We are interacting with our cooperation partners, with an emphasis on the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, in the mobilisation of resources,” Carlos Agostinho do Rosário said during the presentation of the government’s Five-Year Programme (PQG) 2020-2024 to deputies of the Assembly of the Republic.
Rosário did not elaborate on the amounts that the Mozambican executive intended to obtain from international financial institutions, but added that the support would be used to reinforce aid to the poorest populations and to mitigate the impact on the national business fabric.
ALSO READ: Africa wants IMF, World Bank and EU support on debt relief – UNECA
On March 23, the Mozambican executive said it needed US$700 million (€641 million) to address the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Mozambican prime minister highlighted the need to support micro, small and medium-sized companies providing essential medicines, goods and services in the face of the emergency.
Carlos Agostinho do Rosário outlined again the measures announced on the 22nd of last month by the Bank of Mozambique to support companies and families.
The central bank announced in a statement the “introduction of foreign currency credit lines for banks and relaxation of the conditions for restructuring bank customer credits to mitigate the effects” of Covid-19.
The measures consist of “introducing a foreign currency financing line for institutions participating in the Interbank Foreign Exchange Market, in the global amount of US$500 million [€467 million], for a period of nine months”.
A week earlier, the institution had announced the reduction of the mandatory reserves required from the banking system in national (metical) and foreign currency.
The programme that the Assembly of the Republic of Mozambique began debating today predicts that the country’s economy will reach 2024 with an average growth rate of 5.5%, but the estimate was made before considering the impact of Covid-19.
The Minister of Economy and Finance, Adriano Maleiane, has already revised the economic growth forecast for this year downwards, which could influence the five-year programme calculations.
Instead of the 4.8% growth forecast for 2020, official forecasts now point to 2.2% in a pessimistic scenario and 3.8% in an optimistic scenario.
Mozambique has 10 official cases of Covid-19 infection and is under a state of emergency until the end of the month, with all types of events – public, private and even religious – banned.
The new coronavirus responsible for the Covid-19 pandemic has already infected more than 905,000 people worldwide, of whom almost 46,000 have died.
Of those infected, at least 176,500 are considered cured.
The number of deaths in Africa has risen to at least 209 out of more than 5,940 confirmed cases across 49 countries, according to the latest statistics.
Leave a Reply
Be the First to Comment!
You must be logged in to post a comment.
You must be logged in to post a comment.