Portuguese president will not comment on donors suspending aid to Mozambique

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Portuguese president will not comment on donors suspending aid to Mozambique

12:09 CAT | 04 May 2016

Lusa / Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa photographed yesterday, during a visit to a Training Centre for Metalworking in Maputo.

Portuguese president Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa yesterday declined to comment on the suspension of budgetary aid to Mozambique by the so-called G14 group of international donors, which Portugal currently chairs, following the revelation of undisclosed debts in the public accounts.

“As you might imagine, I will not comment on the matter,” Marcelo said yesterday on the first day of his official visit. The Portuguese president will meet his Mozambican counterpart on Wednesday, after which there will be “several days to consider matters of common interest to both countries”.

“What I can say – and what friends can tell other friendly states without meddling in their affairs – is that our own experience shows that it is very important to have financial discipline, to monitor debt and have a permanent concern for dialogue and political stability,” he said.

“Every sovereign state deals with its own problems,” Rebelo de Sousa insisted. “Friends stand by their friends,” he said. “Even if the international community has doubts about the financial or political situation in a country, friends do everything they can to help, to the very end.”

One aid partner told Lusa that the decision only gains official status when conveyed to the executive, and that the Mozambican government is aware of the decision, although it has not been formally communicated to the executive.

Source: Lusa