Mozambique received $661M in support in 2020 to cope with pandemic, spent 68% – report

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Mozambique received $661M in support in 2020 to cope with pandemic, spent 68% – report

4:51 CAT | 22 Feb 2021

File photo: Lusa

Mozambique last year received $661 million (545.7 million euros) in support to tackle Covid-19, of which it has so far used 68%, according to the latest government report. [Read the full report by the Ministry of Economy and Finance, in Portuguese, HERE]

Of the total $700 million the country requested about a year ago, $661 million or 94% was disbursed by its partners. The government has already distributed most of that aid.

By 31 December, a total of $450.5 million had been passed on to various sectors in need and the remainder, some $210 million, remained in an emergency account opened at the Bank of Mozambique that was to be “channelled according to the programming for the Covid-19 emergency” – according to the latest (fifth) report on support from partners to tackle the pandemic, which was posted on the website of the Ministry of Economy and Finance on Friday.

The report lists three main areas where the $450.5 million was used: support to the state budget to cover the loss of revenue resulting from the drop in gross domestic product caused by the pandemic; prevention and treatment of Covid-19; and direct support to households.

In what concerns these three areas [listed above],, Mozambique received US$511 million from partners in support for the State Budget, US$309 million from the International Monetary Fund, US$101.5 million from the World Bank, US$60.6 million from the European Union and US$40 million from the African Development Bank.

Of the moneys received, US$300 million were used, the majority (US$183 million) by the Ministry of Economy and Finance. This is followed by school infrastructure (US$47 million), the Energy Fund (US$15 million), support for small business through the National Investment Bank (US$15 million), and health (US$12.6 million).

Other sectors are agriculture (US$10 million), social action (US$8.3 million), emergency intervention in education (US$4.7 million) and water supply (US$4 million).

Elsewhere, out of the US$100 million that the government requested for Covid-19 prevention and treatment, US$111.4 million was spent by partners – almost US$72 million in cash and US$39.4 million in kind.

The health sector received approximately US$72 million in cash, 60% of which under the management of partners, for direct payment according to the Health Ministry’s list of priorities.

In a third area, the partners disbursed US$39 million for transfers to families [households], with the government having “proceeded with the payment of subsidies to all existing beneficiaries under social protection programmes and started paying subsidies to new beneficiaries identified under Covid-19.”

Mozambique had by Sunday, accumulated a total of 595 Covid-19 deaths from among its 55,643 cases, of which 63% are accounted recovered and 233 remain hospitalised, 187 of them in Maputo city.

Source: Lusa