Three ways to understand the meaning of US$2.3 bn in Mozambique – by Joseph Hanlon

A child clasps a Mozambique flag in a suburb on the outskirt of the capital Maputo in this file picture taken November 2009. At Bobole, a bustling refreshment stop on Mozambique's north-south highway, brightly-painted kiosks lined with bottles offer drinks to thirsty travellers while hawkers sell bananas, paw-paws and carrots in a typical African roadside scene. But memories remain fresh of when Bobole lay in the "death corridor" of a civil war that cost nearly one million Mozambicans their lives until it ended two decades ago. In 2013 a series of hit-and-run raids by opposition Renamo gunmen about 600 km (375 miles) further north has rekindled fears of a return to all-out conflict in what has become one of Africa's economic growth stars. To match Insight MOZAMBIQUE-POLITICS/ REUTERS/Mike Hutchings/Files (MOZAMBIQUE - Tags: SOCIETY POLITICS BUSINESS CIVIL UNREST)

Finance Minister Adriano Maleiane told parliament that the government debt and guarantees total $11.64 billion, of which $9.84 bn is foreign (hard currency) debt and $1.8 bn is domestic (Meticais) debt. So total debt is 107% of GDP and the foreign debt is 90% of GDP – both considered very high. The estimate of the … Continue reading Three ways to understand the meaning of US$2.3 bn in Mozambique – by Joseph Hanlon