Former Mozambican PM optimistic on resumption of IMF programme

Login

Register

http://www.clubofmozambique.com/

Former Mozambican PM optimistic on resumption of IMF programme

11:36 CAT | 13 Jul 2017

DW (File photo) / Luisa Diogo

Former Mozambican prime minister Luísa Diogo has expressed optimism about the resumption of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) aid programme for Mozambique, considering that Mozambicans should learn to trust in their institutions.

“I believe in Mozambican institutions, and I know that they will be able to find a way to direct this process in the most transparent and acceptable way, so that we can find ways of discussing unblocking the programme with the IMF,” she said.

Diogo was speaking on the sidelines of a conference organised by Exame magazine and Barclays Mozambique, where she chairs the board of directors.

The hidden debt scandal between 2013 and 2014 rocked Mozambican public opinion, with civil society organisations demanding accountability from the debtors and protesting against the inclusion of debts in the state’s general account.

The former prime minister says Mozambicans need to believe in the Attorney General’s Office, noting that it was this body that initiated the contract for the audit to be carried out.

“I hope that everything happens in time and in terms that benefit our economy,” she added, reiterating her optimism for the future. “Investors know very well that this country is good to invest in, so it’s necessary to organise for that purpose.”

The hidden debt scandal broke in April 2016 – Ematum’s US$850 million debt was known about, but not Proindicus’s US$622 million and MAM’s US$535 million – and threw Mozambique into a crisis unprecedented in the last decades.

International partners suspended aid , the currency declined steeply and inflation rose to 25 percent by 2016, making life in one of the poorest countries in the world even more difficult.

Resumption of international aid was made conditional on the performance of an independent debt audit, the executive summary of which was distributed by the Attorney General’s Office, and to which the reactions of donors are now awaited. On Monday, the IMF arrived in Mozambique to discuss the audit the authorities.

Source: Lusa