Mozambique: Civil society wants debt relief funds applied to social protection

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Mozambique: Civil society wants debt relief funds applied to social protection

3:14 CAT | 13 Oct 2020

File photo: DW

Mozambique’s Budget Monitoring Forum [FMO] argues that the government should use the new International Monetary Fund (IMF) debt relief fund money to support the country’s most vulnerable families.

The first, six-month tranche of debt relief covered the period from April 14 to October 13, 2020, and was granted under the body’s Catastrophe Containment and Relief Trust (CCRT) to help the country deal with the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Mozambique will also benefit from a second, six-month tranche of debt relief worth about US$13.4 million.

Adriano Nuvunga, coordinator of the Budget Monitoring Forum, a civil society platform that brings together more than 20 organisations, says the debt relief is “extremely important”.

“If Mozambique had to find this money to make the payment, the situation of the accounts would be much more complicated,” he says.

Vulnerable families without support

Nuvunga says the money should be allocated primarily to social support. “We have to find a way to give a ‘bolsa família’ [family grant] to the most vulnerable people, to the most needy families. Since Covid-19 hit the country, [these families] have not had any support or any kind of assistance,” he says.

Covid.moz_.file_.dw_ — *The Covid-19 pandemic has left thousands of people in Mozambique unemployed*

Mozambique on Sunday (11.10) surpassed a cumulative total of 10,000 positive Covid-19 cases, with 72 deaths registered by Monday (12.10). Thousands of workers have been laid off as the pandemic forced the total or partial closure of companies.

Adriano Nuvunga criticises the way the funds allocated to the country to help deal with the impact of Covid-19 are being managed. “The money donated so far, even that obtained through an IMF loan, is being used in a corrupt way,” he alleges. “The direct award modality used and the lack of transparency is causing great corruption at the level of the main ministries. The ministries of Health and of Public Works have the largest amounts,” he adds.

After four months in a state of emergency, Mozambique has since September 7 been in an indefinite state of public calamity, allowing the reopening of some services.

Source: Deutsche Welle