Mozambique: ACIS says Covid-19 support not reaching business companies

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Mozambique: ACIS says Covid-19 support not reaching business companies

2:43 CAT | 24 Aug 2020

File photo: Lusa

The Mozambican Commercial, Industrial and Services Association (ACIS) warned on Friday that the support for companies announced by the government in view of Covid-19 was not having the desired effect, because of problems of implementation.

“These measures are not producing the desired effect; very few companies are taking advantage of the support,” executive director of ACIS, Edson Chichongue, told Lusa.

Chichongue said that bureaucracy and lack of efficient communication were blocking access to the economic incentives set up by the executive.

“The government has taken very important and relevant measures,” Chichongue said. “The challenge is in the implementation of these measures and in the articulation between the various institutions of the state.”

Companies furthest from cities do not even have access to the Boletim da República [Government Gazette] to find out about the requirements for accessing benefits, he added, and measures such as the deferral of payment of electricity accounts and of Value Added Tax (VAT) were so restrictive that they ended up having limited impact.

Chichongue said that most of the 600 companies affiliated with ACIS were seeing billing losses of more than 60%, while only 10% of its affiliates reported losses of 5% or less.

“The impacts are severe, especially for an economy like ours, which has been suffering from other shocks such as cyclones and armed conflicts in the centre and north of the country,” Chichongue said.

Chichongue said that dialogue with the government around the benefits to the economy had improved, making it possible to foresee a greater use of support by companies.

ACIS has 900 affiliated companies, but the difficult economic situation that the country was already facing before the outbreak of Covid-19 has caused the closure of 300 Mozambican and foreign firms.

The commerce, industry and services sectors make up 94% of the Mozambican business fabric.

Source: Lusa