The Mozambican state closed the first half of the year with a total public debt stock of almost 943.9 billion meticals, an increase of 2% compared to the end of 2022.
The information is contained in the economic and social balance of the implementation of the State Budget (OE) from January to June 2023, in which the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF) states that the external debt “continues to stabilise”, having even “reduced by 1.5%” since the beginning of the year to the equivalent of 634.1 billion meticais.
However, it adds, “the growth trend in domestic debt persisted, with this component increasing by 10 per cent, in line with the average growth of recent years”.
Thus, by the end of June, the stock of public debt issued domestically, through the Bank of Mozambique (BdM) and in treasury bonds on the stock exchange, totalled almost 309.9 billion meticais.
Meanwhile, the Mozambican government previously approved the so-called Public Debt Management Strategy 2023-2026, which will guide debt options over the next few years and “set limits for debt sustainability indicators when contracting loans”.
In terms of external debt, the Executive plans to “prioritise financing in the form of donations” and “in the form of highly concessional credits for profitable projects”, while in terms of domestic debt the priority will be to “prioritise the issue of long maturity Treasury Bonds”.
“In line with the principle of prudent and sustainable debt management, the Medium-Term Debt Management Strategy 2023-2025 is being updated, which should guide the government’s decisions on the public debt that best optimises the costs and risks associated with the various financing alternatives,” reads the MEF report.
