President Nyusi says uncertainty on IMF resuming aid is major challenge for Mozambique

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President Nyusi says uncertainty on IMF resuming aid is major challenge for Mozambique

11:35 CAT | 04 Jul 2017

AIM (File photo) / President Filipe Nyusi

President Filipe Nyusi said yesterday (Monday) in Maputo that the uncertainty surrounding the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) assistance program was a “great challenge” for the country, and called for better use of the advantages that the country enjoys.

Speaking at the inauguration of two new Bank of Mozambique buildings in the capital, President Nyusi said: “It is important to manage the state’s financial operations in the current scenario of foreign aid inflows and it is also necessary to consider the uncertainty over the resumption of the IMF program as a major challenge.”

The national economy, Nyusi continued, was beginning to show signs of recovery but continued to face obstacles such as volatility in the price of the raw material that the country exports.

“We continue to advise monitoring macroeconomic indicators against different risks and uncertainties such as commodity price volatility,” he added.

The president underlined that coordinated measures by various governmental institutions had achieved control of inflation and the exchange rate after the two indicators had registered worrying levels over the last two years.

“Today, the metical exchange rate against the dollar is around 60 meticais, against a peak of 80 meticais in 2016, and inflation has fallen from 25 percent at the end of 2016 to 20.7 in May this year,” the president remarked.

In order to consolidate the recovery so far registered, the country must capitalise on the comparative advantages it has, notably in natural resources.

International financial institutions and major donors suspended aid to Mozambique following the discovery in April last year of more than two billion euros of loans secretly guaranteed by the Government between 2013 and 2014.

International partners made the resumption of aid subject to the carrying out of an international audit, a summary of which was released by Mozambique’s Attorney General’s Office a little more than a week ago. The summary however notably lacked detail regarding the final destination of the money borrowed.

Source: Lusa