Africa-Press – Mozambique. Mozambican businesspeople on Thursay called for the inclusion in the state budget of an annual appropriation just to pay overdue invoices, as advocated by the sector’s association, which would “reduce losses” and “improve the business environment”.
“The state owes and is slow to pay, which fuels corruption, because the people who have to decide on payments start to see this as an opportunity to extort companies,” the chairman of the board of UINGE Participações, Nuno Uinge, told Lusa on the sidelines of the 19th Annual Private Sector Conference (CASP), taking place in Maputo.
At issue is the request made on Wednesday at this conference by the president of the Confederation of Economic Associations of Mozambique (CTA), Agostinho Vuma, that over the next five years the state budget should include an annual allocation of US$50 million (€46 million) to pay overdue invoices, in view of the constraints caused to companies.
At the same conference, the country’s president, Filipe Nyusi, conceded that the “main constraint” for companies “has been the delay in the payment of invoices to suppliers of goods and services by the state”.
It is in this context that Nuno Uinge, manager of UINGE Participações, which has been operating for 25 years in the provision of employment agency services and the supply of technology for professional technical education, believes that the state should set an example of commitment to the growth of the business sector by paying debts.
“I think it’s an assertive measure. If this US$50 million fund can be put in the budget, it will facilitate the progress of the economy, reducing the problems companies face and improving the business environment,” he said.
On the sidelines of the conference, which until Friday brings together around 80 national and foreign businesspeople in Maputo to discuss the business environment in the country, Nuno Uinge argued that, as well as paying off overdue debts, the government should continue to design policies that benefit the local business community, with the creation and approval of laws that promote competitiveness.
“This is the case with the local content law, which is fundamental to the integration of national entrepreneurs in many sectors,” he said.
As well as the state’s delay in paying its debts, businesspeople complain about the consequences of the insurgency in Cabo Delgado over the last six years and climatic events which, according to Salim Valá, chairman of the board of the Mozambique stock market and a businessman, have damaged the economy.
“State debts are a long-standing problem and there is always a dialogue with the private sector to settle them, because it’s one of the ways to make companies survive,” he said.
“I hope that this dialogue and permanent coordination between the sectors continues in the search for solutions, because entrepreneurs are the engine of the economy,” said the stock market president, adding that this progressive regularisation would be “a great relief and an oxygen balloon for entrepreneurs to continue working, reducing their losses”.
Entrepreneurs also believe that the proposal for an annual allocation to settle overdue invoices would help overcome the problem of lack of funding.
“If you delay making payments, companies become inactive, which damages the economy,” said businessman Faruk Osman, who is also chairman of the CTA’s supervisory board.
“I think it’s a pertinent proposal, since the private sector provides services to the state and the delay in payments causes companies to lose the ability to offer solutions to the market,” added Faruk. He said that the private sector’s proposal aims to boost the economy by ensuring that companies can fulfil their business plans: “Paying companies is making them competitive and improves the business environment. Not paying is pushing them into bankruptcy (…). Many of them don’t have the reserves to continue developing their activities while they wait for the money that is with the state.
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