The governor of the Bank of Mozambique (BoM), Rogério Zandamela, said on Friday (16) that the country has sufficient international reserves to cover import needs ‘well above five months.’
According to Lusa, Zandamela was speaking at the opening of the 60th committee of central bank governors of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), which is taking place in Maputo, in the south of the country.
‘We are doing well. We are in balance. We are reasonable. I did not mention here our reserve position, which is well above five months in terms of import coverage at the moment,’ he said.
In his opening remarks at the SADC central bank meeting, the BoM governor reiterated that the Mozambican economy had been affected by post-election tension and climatic events, and was ‘slowing down’ from 5.4% in 2023 to 1.9% in 2024.
‘However, I am pleased to report that, despite this, we have managed to maintain price stability, which is our main objective. In fact, average annual inflation slowed to 3.2% in 2024, after 7% in 2023, reflecting a prudent monetary policy,’ said the central bank governor.
The governor forecasts that average annual inflation will remain below 3.5% and should stay in single digits in 2025.
On 13 April, Mozambique’s net international reserves (NIR) fell again in February to $3.5 billion, the lowest level in about a year.
According to a statistical report from the BoM, reserves – in foreign currency – had previously reached their lowest level in June 2024, when they fell to US$3.6 billion, and before that, in December 2023, to US$3.5 billion. Between December and February alone, they fell by almost 4%, compared to $3.7 billion at the end of 2024.
In February this year, international reserves covered 3.3 months of estimated import needs.
These reserves, which guarantee the payment of goods and services abroad by companies, had grown in January 2024 to almost $3.6 billion, which was then the highest figure since September 2021, and in July reached $3.807 billion, a three-year high.
The governor of the BoM said on 8 November last year that the country’s foreign currency reserves are comfortable, but not ‘to be burned’, despite constant allegations by businesspeople about the lack of foreign currency in the market.
Measures adopted to strengthen the availability of foreign currency
For its part, the Association of Mukheristas in Mozambique, which brings together informal importers, said on 6 May that they are resorting to the parallel market in Maputo to buy foreign currency due to a shortage of foreign exchange in banks, warning of the added costs of this solution.
The BoM had previously announced that it was adopting measures to increase the availability of foreign currency at a time when the country is struggling with constraints affecting food and fuel supply chains.
The central bank then approved ‘regulatory instruments’ to ‘provide greater flexibility in foreign exchange management by intermediary banks, given the current socio-economic situation’. One of the notices approved ‘increases the conversion rate on export revenues from goods, services and investment income abroad from the current 30% to 50%,’ a regime that ‘will remain in force for a period of 18 months.’
In addition, the bank approved a notice establishing an ‘exceptional regime’ for the percentages of ‘minimum regulatory provisions on overdue loans, to be in force for a period of 12 months, to promote the “expansion of banks” capacity to grant credit’.
