NGO accuses Bank of Mozambique of lack of transparency in the management of Covid-19 funds

Login

Register

http://www.clubofmozambique.com/

NGO accuses Bank of Mozambique of lack of transparency in the management of Covid-19 funds

12:35 CAT | 05 Dec 2022

File photo: Lusa

The non-governmental organisation Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD) has accused the Bank of Mozambique of lack of transparency in the management of US$310 million disbursed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for the fight against Covid-19.

“The Bank of Mozambique assumed ownership of the funds and exempted itself from accountability, not issuing any statement acknowledging receipt of the funds, nor plans or updates on their use in mitigating the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic,” reads an analysis by the NGO consulted by Lusa on Friday.

Fifteen months after the Mozambican government received the above-mentioned amount from the IMF, Mozambicans know little about the destination of the money, the analysis continues.

The CDD notes that reports on resources allocated to combating Covid-19 have been released by the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF), but the funding allocated by the IMF is not included in these documents, which shows, according to the organization, that “it has been being administered in a discretionary and non-transparent manner by the Bank of Mozambique”.

The MEF has released eight reports, but none of them makes reference to the Covid-19 funds held by the central bank, the CDD notes.

The resources made available by the Bank of Mozambique correspond to the “special drawing rights” (SDRs) that the IMF grants to the members of the organization.

“There is a misconception that special drawing rights are the exclusive property of the Bank of Mozambique and should only be used exceptionally for balance of payments purposes,” the CDD text reads.

The CDD points out that the fact that SDRs go into international reserves does not prevent the money being used for fiscal purposes such as priority expenditure in the areas of health and vaccination.

Such resources can also be used for investment in a crisis context, the NGO maintains.

“At no point in the agreement with the IMF is it written that special drawing rights must be administered exclusively by central banks,” the document highlights.

Lusa news agency did not get a response from the Bank of Mozambique to questions about the NGO’s allegations.

Source: Lusa