At the last forum of the Development
Observatory in Mozambique, Civil Society warned the Government that the 2017 state budget increased funds for poorly
managed public companies, but in contrast, reduced health 11.5%, cut nearly 20
% In education, allocated 2.75% less for agriculture, and still reduced water
and sanitation funds in public works.
Another issue highlighted by Civil Society is
the fact there is a great reliance on external financing in many sectors of
activity.
In the agricultural sector, it was also realized
that lately there has been little or no progress. This is basically due to the
low technical assistance of the extensionists to the family production coupled
with natural calamities and the military-political conflict.
Regarding the dispute between the IMF and the
Mozambican State, the Finance and Economy Minister, Adriano Maleiane, pointed
out at the Observatory the IMF only suspended its financial support because
Mozambique did not provide correct information on the stock of its public debt
. He then developed a rhetoric in favor of the State's efforts to correct the
mistakes of the past and that the State's accounts and budgets are being
corrected so that in the future Mozambique will respect the criteria advocated
by the IMF.
The IMF representative, also present at the
Observatory, confirmed what has already been mentioned from the outset:
"at the moment these debts (companies already referred to in a previous
article - Ematum, Proindicus and Mozambique Asset Management) were taken, didn’t
comply with certain criteria for the administration of public resources, or administration
of public debt in an appropriate manner; then that matters to the IMF. "
Thus, a perfect harmony between Civil Society,
IMF and the Mozambican Government is still far from being achieved, however, as
is the case of almost all Governments, regardless of their ideology, in
compelling situations such as these, they claim all efforts are being taken to
correct errors and restore the State's respectability – in this case, in
relation to Civil Society and the IMF.
Miguel Verde - Senior Consultant, Professor of
International Relations
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