Mozambiques finansminister Adriano Maleiane udtaler nu offentligt, at landets gæld, som i år forventes at overstige 130 procent af BNP, er blevet uholdbar og derfor skal omstruktureres.
Mozambiques voksende og skandaleplaget gæld har medført en fastfrysning af lån fra Den Internationale Valutafond, Verdensbanken og en række donorlande.
Læs også IMF lægger Mozambique på is
Den Internationale Valutafond meddelte i Oktober måned, at den muligvis vil åbne op for pengestrømmen til landet i begyndelsen af 2017, dog under forudsætning af, at Mozambique omstrukturerer sin offentlige gæld.
Ved en pressekonference d. 27. Oktober, udtalte Gerry Rice fra Valutafondens kommunikationsafdeling (transkribering) :
Questioner: Good morning. Moving on to Mozambique. The government said in a presentation to investors this week that before the Fund can start program talks with the government, first the removal of the country’s debt distress classification must take place. So can you say, or the IMF say, that this is a prerequisite to the program starting?
MR. RICE: Yes. In line with Fund policies, we cannot disburse funds in a situation where we think the debt is not sustainable. We issued a statement related to this situation a bit earlier this week. I can repeat it if you like, but the answer to your question is yes. As with any country, to be able to disburse we need to know that the debt is sustainable.
Questioner: And then also will the Fund only start talks over the new program once the international independent audit has been concluded, or can talks begin while the audit is still underway?
MR. RICE: Well, this has been an issue ongoing for some time. I think again the IMF’s position is well-known on the audit. In fact, it was discussed in Washington when the visit of the president of Mozambique was here. It was discussed, in fact, with Madame Lagarde, where again we issued a statement at the time. We welcomed Mozambique’s willingness to perform the audit, and it was agreed that this audit would be conducted in an independent way by a reputable international auditing company. So my understanding is that work on this has continued, that in fact we expect the terms of reference for this audit to be completed soon. And again, the answer to your question is that we would see this as an important step to our continued support for Mozambique.
