Maputo, 15 Sep (AIM) – Mozambique’s ruling Frelimo Party in June owed Mozambique Airlines (LAM) about 22 million meticais (around 344,000 US dollars, at the current exchange rate) according to Zita Joaquim, the financial and accounting administrator in the South African company Fly Modern Ark (FMA), which has been hired to bring the airline back to profitability.
Frelimo is one of many organisations which purchased airline tickets from LAM on credit, but then failed to pay.
When FMA took over management of LAM, the Frelimo debt stood at 22 million dollars. The Party has subsequently paid off five million dollars of the debt.
LAM has now decided that, while it is putting its financial house in order, Frelimo will no longer be able to obtain tickets on credit.
But Frelimo is only one of many debtors. Joaquim said that in June the total client debt to LAM was 1.2 billion meticais (18.7 million dollars).
Cited by the Portuguese news agency Lusa on Thursday, Joaquim said “FMA found debts initially totalling 1.7 billion meticais. Nevertheless, collections, debt payment plans and reconciliation of accounts have been made.”
The debtors, she explained, are public and private companies, ministries, the Armed Forces, and so on.
Joaquim admitted that one company alone, which she did not identify, owed the company almost 50 million meticais.
“This is also a problem that the company is responsible for, since it allowed these arrears to accumulate”, she added.
The list of organisations owing money to LAM is long, she stressed, admitting that since June other amounts have been settled, but preferring not to reveal the current amount owed. She said FMA had also found cases of payments made by clients that were not settled in the company’s accounts.
(AIM)
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