The cost of fuel imports by Mozambique skyrocketed in 2024 to over €1.8 billion in just nine months, more than was spent in the whole of 2023.
According to a statistical report by the Bank of Mozambique, with data from January to the end of September 2024, the cost of the country’s fuel imports totalled $301 million in the first quarter, rose to $621.1 million (€604 million) in the second, and to $935.9 million (€910 million) in the third.
In just nine months, the cost of importing all types of fuel totalled $1.858 billion (€1.808 billion), more than that recorded for the whole of 2023, $1.417 billion (€1.378 billion), and almost as much as in 2022: $1.966 billion (€1.912 billion).
In a period affected by the economic consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic, Mozambique imported $947 million (€921 million) in fuel for the whole of 2021 and $542 million (€527 million) in 2020.
The Bank of Mozambique announced in June 2023 that it would stop reimbursing the country’s foreign fuel import invoices, considering that the amounts can be borne by commercial banks.
The co-payment dates back to 2005 and reached 100% after 2010, because there were “large amounts, ranging from $10 to $20 million in a single invoice”, making it unaffordable for a bank or group of banks to bear it, explained Silvina de Abreu, the central bank’s administrator at the time.
In recent years, “the invoices are quite fragmented”, sometimes in the order of “a million dollars or less”, which allows smaller banks to enter “this fuel financing market”, sheadded.
Lusa
