Angola forgives half of Mozambique’s debt

Maputo, 11 Nov (AIM) – The Angolan government has forgiven half of Mozambique’s debt, according to Margarida Talapa, the chairperson of the Mozambican parliament, the Assembly of the Republic.

Talapa was speaking to reporters on Monday after being received by Angolan President João Lourenço in Luanda. “We appreciate the Angolan government’s decision, and we express our expectation that the Angolan parliament will ratify the decision shortly”, said Talapa.

But this is the second time that Angola has promised to cancel half of Mozambique’s debt. The same promise was made in 2007, but was never implemented.

An unnamed Mozambican official told the AFP news agency then that the rest of the debt would be “transformed into capital for Angolan investment in Mozambique”. But, for reasons that have never been explained, nothing came of this arrangement.

The total Mozambican debt to Angola was estimated at 60 million US dollars This dated back to the 1980s, and was incurred through Mozambique purchasing oil from Angola.

During the war of destabilisation, waged against Mozambique by the apartheid regime in South Africa, Mozambique became desperately short of liquid fuels. So contracts were signed with oil producing countries, such as Algeria, Libya, Iraq and Angola.

In 2015, the then Mozambican President, Filipe Nyusi, told reporters in Luanda, that the Angolan government had indeed agreed to cancel 50 per cent of the debt. Ten years later, the same promise has been made again.

Recently, the Chinese government also decided to forgive Mozambique’s interest-free loans falling due until 2024 and donate 100 million yuan (about 14 million US dollars, at the current exchange rate). According to government data, 14 percent of Mozambique’s foreign debt in March of this year was held by China, the country’s largest bilateral creditor, with a stock of 1.3 billion US dollars.

Talapa began a working visit to Angola on Sunday. She intends to participate in the celebrations of the 50th anniversary of Angola independence from Portugal. in representation of President Daniel Chapo.

At the independence celebrations, Mozambique will also be represented by former Presidents Joaquim Chissano and Filipe Nyusi.

Mozambican artists will also join more than 33 Angolan artists who will perform at the celebrations.
(AIM)
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