The International Monetary Fund has extended a credit facility to Mozambique, the first non-Covid related, since it pulled the plug over a $2-billion hidden debt scandal six years ago, IgbereTV reports
Following months of talks, the IMF reached a three-year Extended Credit Facility deal with Mozambican authorities, to the tune of $470 million, it said in a statement.
The agreement, still subject to IMF management and executive board approval, will “support the government’s reforms addressing long-term structural challenges in the management of public resources and governance”, it said in a statement.
It will also fund “sustainable, inclusive growth, and long-term macroeconomic stability”.
Mozambique is yet to recover from a huge debt that triggered an economic crisis, the worst the country has experienced since independence from Portugal four decades ago.
The government contracted secret loans amounting to $2 billion (1.8 billion euros) in 2013 and 2014 from international banks to buy a tuna-fishing fleet and surveillance vessels.
Maputo masked the loans from parliament but the debt came to light in 2016, prompting donors, including the IMF, to turn off the financial support tap
