This archive report was first published on 21 December 2021.
Published on December 21, 2021, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) announced plans to discuss a potential extended credit facility with Mozambique in January 2022.
The IMF's decision comes after Mozambique unveiled a $2 billion state-backed borrowing scheme in 2016, which was previously undisclosed and led to a corruption scandal.
Since then, the IMF has provided targeted aid to help Mozambique recover from natural disasters and cyclones, but this would be its first formal programme with the country.
"Staff stand ready to commence negotiations in late January 2022, in accordance with the authorities' preferred timeline," the IMF said in a statement.
The programme aims to ease financing pressures, support poverty reduction and equitable growth, and catalyse additional development financing.
Mozambique, one of the world's most impoverished countries, is still grappling with its debt burden, an Islamist insurgency, and the impact of Covid-19, which led to its first economic contraction in three decades last year.
The discovery of massive liquefied natural gas (LNG) reserves has made Mozambique a potential major global exporter of the fuel, but graft scandals and the insurgency have dented or threatened the promised benefits.
