Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) will now have access to credit through the Mutual Guarantee Fund, created this week by the government, with an amount of 4.4 billion meticals (68.2 million dollars).
The Council of Ministers’ decree creating the fund, dated 10 June and published on Wednesday (12) by Lusa, states that the measure is designed to “promote easier access to finance for MSMEs, by granting guarantees and counter-guarantees for loans taken out by this segment of companies with national banks, in order to make interest rates more accessible”.
The document adds that partnerships have been created with other institutions to ensure the sustainability of the fund, provide extended support for the offer and disseminate the legal instruments that can help improve access to finance for MSMEs.
“The Loan Guarantee Fund will be supervised by the Bank of Mozambique,” the document emphasises.
In February, the government clarified that a feasibility study had been carried out on the creation of the Loan Guarantee Fund, which was presented to the country’s main banks, and that an exercise had also been carried out in the reference markets of Brazil, Cape Verde and Portugal, with the aim of improving the operational aspects of the fund and its feasibility based on concrete cases.
At the time, the Minister of Economy and Finance, Max Tonela, said that the fund was set up to allow the national banks to make financial resources available to strengthen investment capacity at interest rates that are “more accessible to Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises operating in the agriculture, fish farming, agricultural commercialisation and processing, tourism and housing sectors”.
“Access to credit results in private sector growth. This growth benefits the economy, benefits the country and automatically benefits the banks,” emphasised Max Tonela.
