Mozambique prepares counter-proposals for creditors

Login

Register

http://www.clubofmozambique.com/

Mozambique prepares counter-proposals for creditors

2:03 CAT | 03 Oct 2018

File photo: Lusa

The Mozambican government is preparing counter-proposals to creditors of the so-called hidden debts in the framework of ongoing negotiations, Minister of Economy and Finance Adriano Maleiane told journalists attending a meeting about the 2019 draft State Budget in Maputo.

The government’s advisers on financial and legal matters, Lazard Frêres and White & Case, are in the Mozambican capital to work on the matter.

Maleiane reiterated the view that the negotiations “can be concluded by the end of the year”, and the agreements then validated by Mozambican judicial and political entities in 2019 as envisaged by the new laws created after the scandal involving US$2 billion of government-guaranteed borrowing entered into between 2013 and 2014 without the knowledge of parliament or international partners.

“The conclusion of the negotiations is important,” Minister Maleiane said.

The 2019 Draft State Budget does not include any specific item to compensate creditors, but the Minister of Economy and Finance has indicated that if there is an agreement, it is expected to include a “discount”, and the state can resort to its “global reserve” for payment.

Adriano Maleiane favour a solution that guarantees the “sustainability of Mozambican debt” within the options presented to the creditors during a meeting held in London in March. This may include instruments indexed to other values such as revenues that Mozambique will receive for the export of natural gas over the coming decades.

Source: Lusa