The Bank of Miçombique (BdM) reported that Net International Reserves (NIR) surged in February to a new record of $4.2 billion. According to the bank, these reserves consist of foreign currency used to finance the import of goods and services essential to the national economy.
Data from the central bank indicate that the record level was reached at the end of 2025 and remained virtually stable at the beginning of this year. Between December 2025 and January 2026, the NIR recorded a slight increase of nearly 1%, consolidating the level above $4.1 billion.
The report also shows that this growth trend had already been observed in previous months. In September of last year, reserves increased by 1%, reaching $3.9 billion, a figure that remained unchanged in October.
Prior to that, in August of the same year, the country had reached a historic high of $4 billion in RIL.
Despite the strengthening of foreign reserves, business leaders continue to express concerns about the difficulty of accessing foreign currency through commercial banks, which is necessary for importing raw materials and other goods.
Meanwhile, on Tuesday, April 7, Finance Minister Carla Loveira revealed that the government had drawn on the country’s net international reserves to pay its debt to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), assuring that the decision does not jeopardize state institutions.
“We paid the debt service to the IMF by drawing on the country’s international liquid reserves. These are financial positions that Mozambique holds, so there was no need to make any budgetary adjustments for this purpose,” the minister stated, as quoted by Lusa.
The Ministry of Finance confirmed on Thursday, April 2, that it had made a “full and early repayment” of $701.4 million to the International Monetary Fund, settling loans contracted under the Poverty Reduction and Growth Trust (PRGT).
In a statement, the government noted that the IMF’s PRGT is a window that provides concessional financing to countries like Mozambique, which face fiscal and balance-of-payments pressures.
Diário Económico clarified that recent IMF data indicate that the outstanding credit balance fell from 514.04 million Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) at the end of February to zero as of March 27, following repayments in the same amount and with no new disbursements during the period. In practical terms, the payment amounts to $701.4 million.
According to the government’s statement, the loans repaid by the state correspond to the funding disbursed by the IMF under the PRGT for the 2019 Rapid Credit Facility, for the 2020 Rapid Credit Facility, and for the 2022 Extended Credit Facility, noting that “these programs had all expired and no additional financing was expected.”
