{"id":19031,"date":"2022-05-06T15:49:05","date_gmt":"2022-05-06T15:49:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mozambique\/all-news\/mozambique-lams-biggest-debtors-are-government-entities"},"modified":"2022-05-06T16:00:09","modified_gmt":"2022-05-06T16:00:09","slug":"mozambique-lams-biggest-debtors-are-government-entities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mozambique\/all-news\/mozambique-lams-biggest-debtors-are-government-entities","title":{"rendered":"Mozambique: \u201cLAM\u2019s biggest debtors are government entities\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Mozambique. <\/strong><\/span>Interviewed by DW, economist Thomas Selemane says he has no doubt that Mozambican Airlines\u2019 debt is putting the company\u2019s future at risk, and that the resolution of the problem depends \u201con who runs the country\u201d.<\/p>\n

In recent statements to the press, published in the newspaper \u2018O Pa\u00eds\u2019, the director general of Linhas A\u00e9reas de Mo\u00e7ambique (Mozambique Airlines-LAM), Jo\u00e3o P\u00f3 Jorge, acknowledged that the country\u2019s flag carrier airline \u201cis not being able to repay its debt\u201d, because there is still no restructuring plan.<\/p>\n

Interviewed by DW about the current situation at the national airline, Thomas Selemane frankly states that the company\u2019s debt \u2013 estimated at seven billion meticais \u2013 puts the continuity of its operation at risk, and that only the government can solve LAM\u2019s problems.<\/p>\n

According to the Mozambican economist, the roots of these problems are so \u201cstructural\u201d that the resolution \u201cdoes not depend on who sits in LAM\u2019s offices, but on who is running the country\u201d. This is because, he adds, the company\u2019s biggest debtors are ministries of the executive itself or clients of the state.<\/p>\n

DW Africa: In 2018, the announcement of LAM\u2019s new management brought hope to the airline. However, four years later, the financial problems remain. What is this stagnation due to?<\/b><\/p>\n

Thomas Selemane (TS):<\/b><\/p>\n

I think the stagnation is due to two main reasons. The first is structural, which has to do with the failure of the Mozambican state to make LAM a real company, a real airline, which generates profits with proper business management, without \u2018politics\u2019. The second reason why LAM is in this situation is the market reason, concerning the company\u2019s lack of ability to respond to the demand for air transport in the last four or five years.<\/p>\n

DW Africa: So you reject the company\u2019s justification associating this failure with Covid-19\u2026<\/b><\/p>\n

TS:<\/b><\/p>\n

Covid-19, in the case of Mozambique, only arrived practically in mid-2020, when half of the LAM management team\u2019s commitment time had already passed. It is true that the pandemic has seriously affected the business performance of LAM, and of several other companies, not only in Mozambique but in the world. But it\u2019s also true that, from the airline\u2019s reports and accounts, even without Covid-19, I don\u2019t believe that now, in May 2022, LAM would be in a better situation than it is. Because, for me, the fundamental issues that put LAM in the red are not being resolved.<\/p>\n

DW Africa: And what are these issues?<\/b><\/p>\n

TS:<\/b><\/p>\n

Firstly, the inefficiency of the company, characterised by the excess of workers and collaborators, taking into account the true size of the enterprise. Second, the political interference that LAM has from several government and state customers who travel with the company without paying, or who accumulate debts that are never paid. The situation is extremely serious.<\/p>\n

DW Africa: LAM\u2019s managing director recently said that there is still no restructuring plan for the company. Is this justifiable, four years after the new administration took office?<\/b><\/p>\n

Maputo airport [File photo: DW]TS: It\u2019s not justifiable from a technical point of view, because no company in the world stays four years with the accounts \u2018in the red\u2019 and without a restructuring plan. That simply doesn\u2019t exist. Why does this happen here? It happens because the Mozambican state does everything to make LAM not a company, but an instrument of performance, fortification and maintenance of power. It is not by chance that the big debtors are ministries, public institutes and other government entities.<\/p>\n

DW Africa: Could this LAM debt, which currently stands at 7 billion meticais, jeopardise the company\u2019s activity?<\/b><\/p>\n

TS:<\/b><\/p>\n

It\u2019s not that it could jeopardise [it] \u2013 it\u2019s already jeopardising the company\u2019s continuity, because LAM\u2019s operations today are minimal. Minimalist in the sense that the company can only carry out indispensable flights. There is one plane that makes three to four routes on the same day. This is simply unsustainable. The risk of failure and breakdown of LAM\u2019s operations is not far away. It is a risk that everyone is seeing by the day.<\/p>\n

DW Africa: Even so, the airline\u2019s management once again stated that it plans to increase its fleet and the number of routes by 2030. Does that seem like a feasible plan?<\/b><\/p>\n

TS:<\/b><\/p>\n

I don\u2019t think so. What LAM should say is that it will carry out a company planning process. It cannot promise us an increase of the fleet. The company has to resolve the debts; it has to resolve the inefficiency. Without this, no bank today will lend money to the company. How will it increase the fleet? It\u2019s impossible. The Mozambican state has no money to give to LAM, and neither will the International Monetary Fund (IMF) nor the World Bank allow it.<\/p>\n

Source: Deutsche Welle<\/b><\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Mozambique<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Mozambique. Interviewed by DW, economist Thomas Selemane says he has no doubt that Mozambican Airlines\u2019 debt is putting the company\u2019s future at risk, and that the resolution of the problem depends \u201con who runs the country\u201d. In recent statements to the press, published in the newspaper \u2018O Pa\u00eds\u2019, the director general of Linhas […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":19030,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,6,8,16],"tags":[233,281,283],"class_list":["post-19031","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-files","category-homepage-english","category-twitter","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-mozambique","tag-mozambique"],"yoast_head":"\nMozambique: \u201cLAM\u2019s biggest debtors are government entities\u201d - Mozambique<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Interviewed by DW, economist Thomas Selemane says he has no doubt that Mozambican Airlines\u2019 debt is putting the company\u2019 ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mozambique\/all-news\/mozambique-lams-biggest-debtors-are-government-entities\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Mozambique: \u201cLAM\u2019s biggest debtors are government entities\u201d\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Interviewed by DW, economist Thomas Selemane says he has no doubt that Mozambican Airlines\u2019 debt is putting the company\u2019 ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mozambique\/all-news\/mozambique-lams-biggest-debtors-are-government-entities\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Mozambique\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-05-06T15:49:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-05-06T16:00:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/mozambique\/sites\/64\/2022\/05\/img-627545ae3f231.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"405\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mozambique\/all-news\/mozambique-lams-biggest-debtors-are-government-entities#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mozambique\/all-news\/mozambique-lams-biggest-debtors-are-government-entities\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mozambique\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Mozambique: \u201cLAM\u2019s biggest debtors are government entities\u201d\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-05-06T15:49:05+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-05-06T16:00:09+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mozambique\/all-news\/mozambique-lams-biggest-debtors-are-government-entities\"},\"wordCount\":828,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mozambique\/all-news\/mozambique-lams-biggest-debtors-are-government-entities#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/mozambique\/sites\/64\/2022\/05\/img-627545ae3f231.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Mozambique\",\"Mozambique\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"files\",\"homepage-english\",\"twitter\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mozambique\/all-news\/mozambique-lams-biggest-debtors-are-government-entities#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mozambique\/all-news\/mozambique-lams-biggest-debtors-are-government-entities\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mozambique\/all-news\/mozambique-lams-biggest-debtors-are-government-entities\",\"name\":\"Mozambique: \u201cLAM\u2019s biggest debtors are government entities\u201d - 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