Africa-Press – Mozambique. Mozambique’s Ministry of Economy and Finance said on Friday it had not asked the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that the debt ratios exclude specific bonds for countries in military conflict it said today in a statement sent to Lusa.
“There is and was no request from Mozambique on the initiative under discussion,” on Wednesday during the fourth Forum on Resilience in Africa, organised on the Internet by the African Development Bank (AfDB), it said – meaning that the IMF did not reject any request from Mozambique on debt sustainability analysis, because there was none.
At issue is the announcement by the AfDB that it is preparing a debt issue specifically for countries affected by conflicts, such as Mozambique, so that they can finance themselves to re-launch their economies, particularly in the hardest-hit regions.
In a panel debate also attended by Abebe Selassie, director of the African department of the IMF, the Mozambican economy and finance minister, “asked the panel partner about how SIIBs [the instrument announced by the ADB] would be treated in the IMF’s debt sustainability assessment,”.
“The IMF director for Africa responded,” and the Mozambican minister, Adriano Maleiane, “agreed with the explanation given,” concludes the same note from the Ministry without any request.
The debate was entitled, “The link between security, economic growth and investment.
In the final part, dedicated to quick questions among the participants, Adriano Maleiane asked Abebe Selassie: “How is this [this new instrument] going to be treated in terms of debt sustainability analysis?”
“My first reaction, conceptually, is that if the instrument creates debt and risk, it has to be treated as such, and not to be seen as such is to try to cover up the debt and not face reality,” replied the director of the IMF’s African department.
