The Mozambican state has recovered no funds from the non-performing loan portfolio of the defunct Banco Austral during the first half of 2026, leaving the total recovered since 2002 unchanged at €13.1 million, according to a Finance Ministry report on collections from the former institution.
Data obtained by Diário Económico show that collections have been at a complete standstill since 2024. After recovering €115,000 in 2023, the state recorded zero receipts in 2024, 2025, and the first six months of 2026.
As part of the privatisation of Banco Austral, the state provisioned a loan portfolio valued at €18.7 million as of 31 December 2001. Following an audit, €1.6 million was deducted, reducing the total to €17.1 million.
On 16 July 2002, the state and Banco Austral signed a credit assignment agreement under which 70 loan files, valued at €4.7 million, were transferred to the state for collection. Since then, €13.1 million has been recovered, meaning approximately €4 million of the provisioned portfolio remains outstanding.
The bulk of recoveries occurred in the early years of the process. Between 2002 and 2008, the state recovered €8.4 million. A further €1.1 million was collected in 2009, €937,000 in 2010, and €818,000 in 2011.
The pace of recovery has fallen sharply since then. No collections were recorded in 2022, and in 2023 the state recovered just €115,000.
Banco Austral was at the centre of one of the country’s most significant financial scandals. In August 2001, the bank’s then-president, António Siba-Siba Macuácua, was assassinated while leading a financial restructuring process and an investigation into the institution’s management.
The bank was in the grip of a severe financial crisis, marked by an accumulation of non-performing loans and allegations of mismanagement. The situation compelled the state to reassume control of the institution and initiate a new privatisation process.
Banco Austral had itself emerged from the privatisation of the former Banco Popular de Desenvolvimento (BPD) in 1997. In 2001, South African group Absa acquired an 80% stake in the institution. The bank subsequently operated as Barclays Bank Moçambique before adopting its current name, Absa Bank Moçambique, in 2019.
Despite the changes in the institution’s ownership structure and brand, the state has still not recovered a portion of the loans associated with the former Banco Austral, more than two decades after the collection process began.
Source: Diário Económico
Original article: https://www.diarioeconomico.co.mz/2026/08/25/economia/financas/estado-nao-recupera-credito-do-antigo-banco-austral-desde-2024/
