Maputo, 26 May (AIM) – The governor of the Bank of Mozambique, Rogério Zandamela, has announced that the recent fuel shortage, which caused long queues of vehicles at filling stations in Maputo and other cities, was also related to the bankruptcy of fuel distributors and the shortage of foreign currency, particularly US dollars.
According to Zandamela, who was speaking to reporters on Monday, in Maputo, after the meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee (CPMO), the country’s commercial banks have been financing fuel imports but the “entities that should have access to these guarantees, namely credit, are not in a position to do so. For various reasons, they [gas stations] are broken, bankrupt, they do not have meticais, among other issues.”
Under normal circumstances, fuel distributors use bank guarantees, denominated in US dollars, to pay for the fuel they order at the ports. Some distributors are unable to acquire these guarantees from the commercial banks.
The country’s fuel crisis, influenced by the US-Israel aggression war against Iran and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz –which is responsible for the daily flow of almost 20 percent of the world’s oil sales – forced the government to increase, at the beginning of this May, the prices of the main liquid fuels by up to 45, 5 percent.
About 80 per cent of Mozambique’s fuel imports pass through routes connected to the Strait of Hormuz, which means that the impact of the war in the Middle East is potentially disastrous for the country’s economy.
However, according to the governor, the role of banks in the import process, including the issuance of guarantees for overseas purchases, is being fulfilled.
“We observe that the banks are doing everything possible to support. They are indeed supporting, the data show this, they are committed and demonstrate that they are supporting and prioritizing the fuel bill in their decisions regarding the allocation of foreign exchange funds”, he said.
“The commercial banks are also prioritizing the issuance of guarantees for these imports, although their granting depends on the financial condition of the fuel distributors”, He added.
Zandamela guaranteed that “we do not have a problem issuing guarantees to those borrowers who have the appropriate credit profile and capacity.”
“A guarantee is credit. If you do not have the capacity to obtain that credit, even if you are a fuel retailer, the bank will not provide guarantees. So, we have situations where some institutions, particularly fuel retailers, are excluded from guarantees”, he explained.
According to the governor, the use of available guarantees by fuel retailers is well below the limits, therefore “the process of allocating funds for fuel imports is being monitored directly by the government.”
Am/
