Mozambique values cooperation with Portugal.
The Deputy Minister of Economy and Finance of Mozambique, Amílcar Tivane, today valued cooperation with Portugal in multiple aspects, but underlined that the return of direct support to the country's budget would be desirable.
“Direct support to the (State) Budget would be desirable, of course”.
Amílcar Tivane said, considering, however, that it is necessary to see “cooperation with Portugal in its multiple aspects”.
“The funding we have been receiving in other areas, and institutional capacity building, have been helping to leverage the Mozambican economy”.
The deputy minister said in statements to the Lusa news agency, on the sidelines of the annual meetings of the African Development Bank Group (ADB) that ended today, in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt.
On the recent visit to Maputo by the Portuguese prime minister, António Costa, the two countries signed a new cooperation framework "which includes a number of areas", he stressed, also valuing Portugal's support within the scope of the Compacto Lusófono, a partnership created with the ADB to promote investment in Portuguese-speaking African countries (PALOP), which will be extended for another five or even 10 years.
Portugal, like other countries and institutions, suspended direct support to Mozambique's budget, following the case of hidden debts, the biggest corruption case in the country's history, a scheme that defrauded the State of more than 2,7 billion euros dollars of debt contracted with international banks, between 2013 and 2014.
“It must be remembered that, seven, 10 years ago, Mozambique had direct budget support resources of between US$750 and US$800 million”, recalled the deputy minister of Economy and Finance.
The government official admitted that, "naturally, with this reduction in direct budget support flows, there was a need for the country to adopt efforts to mobilize additional resources", which has been achieved with effort.
“We are talking about internal resources to ensure that the country continues to provide and continues to carry out its investment program in the field of infrastructure, in the social area, accumulation of human capital, job creation”, said Amílcar Tivane.
A reflection of these efforts is the growth of the economy of Mozambique, one of the countries in Africa that the African Development Bank predicts will have Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth of more than 5% this year, i.e. above the average for the continent, which is estimated at 4%.
In the document “Economic Perspectives for Africa”, released during annual meetings, the AfDB forecasts economic growth in Mozambique of 6,6% this year.
