Ematum: Creditor negotiations may be completed by year’s end – finmin

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Ematum: Creditor negotiations may be completed by year’s end – finmin

1:31 CAT | 13 Sep 2018

Ematum boats docked in Maputo. File photo: rFI

Mozambique’s economy and finance minister, Adriano Maleiane, has said that the negotiations between the government and the holders of public debt originally from Ematum may be concluded this year.

“Our advisers are assessing the creditor’s counter-proposal and I am sure we are on track to closing a deal”, the minister said, quoted in the ‘Notícias’ state newspaper on Thursday.

According to the same source, Adriano Maleiane says that “the parties intend to reach a compromise that makes the country’s public debt sustainable”.

The Noticias report adds that “the government and the creditors (Credit Suisse Securities and VTB Capital plc) have agreed that Ematum’s debt securities will revert to a sovereign commitment held by the Mozambican state”.

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Maleiane.adriano.2018full.not_ — *Minister Adriano Maleiane*

Meanwhie, Lusa recalls that the Debt Committee of sovereign debt creditors proposed at the beginning of August that Mozambique’s government pay $200 million (€172 million) by 2023 and then pay the rest after that depending on revenue from the natural gas projects, which are expected to kick-in around 2022.

A source close to the negotiations told Lusa that the proposal the Debt Committee sent to the finance minister foresees the government postponing the payment of €860 million, equivalent to 80% of the debt service, until the securities mature in 2023.

The creditors’ proposal maintains the demand for the complete repayment of the debt, but extends the deadline, the source added.

The Debt Committee is composed of a group of creditors who claim they represent more than 70% of all the country’s sovereign debt of $727.5 million (€626.2 million) issued in 2016 following the conversion of bond loans issued by the state fishing company Ematum, with state guarantees.

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