Possible meeting between Nyusi and VTB “unimportant” – WATCH

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Possible meeting between Nyusi and VTB “unimportant” – WATCH

8:11 CAT | 09 Feb 2018

O Pais

Mozambique’s Minister of Economy and Finance, Adriano Maleiane, has dismissed as “unimportant” the request by the chairperson of the Russian bank VTB, Andrey Kostin, for a meeting with Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi to discuss the illicit loans made by VTB to quasi-state companies in 2013 and 2014.

VTB and Credit Suisse lent over two billion US dollars to the security-related companies Ematum (Mozambique Tuna Company), Proindicus and MAM (Mozambique Asset Management). The loans were fully guaranteed by the government of Nyusi’s predecessor, President Armando Guebuza, in violation of the ceilings on such guarantees set by the 2013 and 2014 budget loans.

VTB issued the loans even though the three Mozambican companies were brand new creations, with no track record, and no due diligence had been carried out.

Kostin attended the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, in January, and claimed that he was disappointed not to meet Nyusi (though a phone call to the Russian embassy in Maputo would certainly have informed him that Nyusi was not going to Davos).

Cited by the Bloomberg agency, Kostin said “We would have liked to convince the President and the Mozambican authorities to begin more negotiations with the investors to restructure the debt”.

But Maleiane brushed Kostin’s statement aside. Cited on Thursday by the independent television channel STV, he said Kostin’s intervention was “unimportant”, since the Mozambican government has already set up a team to renegotiate the debts.

The government had told the creditors at a meeting in London in October 2016 that it could not repay the Ematum, Proindicus and MAM debts, and called on the creditors to renegotiate them.

“We are discussing with all the creditors”, sad Maleiane. “This is not a matter to discuss with the President of the Republic. This is a matter that was publicly presented in London. The government wants a solution that is in line with debt sustainability”.

The full scale of the loans to the three companies did not become public knowledge until April 2016. The companies are, to all intents and purposes, bankrupt and the government is not stepping in to pick up the bill. Since April 2016 the government, in defiance of the illicit guarantees, has not paid any interest or capital on the three loans.

Maleiane also told reporters that the government is not dipping into the 352 million dollars paid in capital gains tax by the Italian energy company ENI in order to support victims of the recent heavy storms in the northern provinces.

“In the budget, the government set up a fund for emergency situations, and that is the sum we are now using”, said the Minister. “While this is not exhausted, we are not going to use the money paid in capital gains tax”.

“We shall use this money when we have the debate on the matter fully clarified”, said Maleiane, referring to the discussions on whether Mozambique should use such tax windfalls to set up a sovereign wealth fund. “The money is being kept back, so that we can use it to make some difference to the economy”.