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Mozambique’s fuel import bill soars in 2024
1:09 CAT | 20 Jan 2025
File photo: Lusa
The cost of fuel imports by Mozambique soared in 2024 to over €1.8 billion in just nine months, more than the expenditure in the whole of 2023.
According to a statistical report by the central bank covering January 2024 to the end of September 2024, the cost of Mozambique’s fuel imports amounted to US$301 million in the first quarter, rising to US$621.1 million (€604 million) in the second quarter, and to US$935.9 million (€910 million) in the third quarter.
In just nine months, the cost of importing all types of fuels amounted to US$1.858 billion (€1.808 billion), more than the cost recorded in the whole of 2023 (US$1.417 billion/€1.378 billion), and almost as much as for the whole of 2022 (US$1,966 billion/€1.912 billion).
In a period affected by the economic consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic, Mozambique imported US$947 million (€921 million) in fuels in the whole of 2021, and US$542 million (€527 million) in 2020.
The Bank of Mozambique announced in June 2023 that it would no longer contribute to the country’s fuel import bills, considering that the costs can now be borne by commercial banks.
The contribution dated back to 2005 and reached 100% after 2010, because there were “large amounts, ranging from US$10 million to US$20 million in a single invoice”, making them unbearable for a commercial bank or group of commercial banks to support, explained central bank administrator Silvina de Abreu at the time.
In recent years, “invoices have become quite fragmented”, sometimes in the order of “one million dollars or less”, which allows smaller banks to enter “the fuel financing market”, Silvina de Abreu added, in statements regarding the announcement.
Source: Lusa
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