The Economist magazine, more
specifically its "Intelligence Unit", reports that the possibility of
the IMF hitting a financial assistance to Mozambique has become less likely,
since this Fund requires a full disclosure of debt audits.
The IMF's tougher attitude is
not surprising, as attempts by the authorities to block the investigation have
been a well-known fact. Thus, a number of important issues remained unanswered
in a very brief and vigorously drafted report issued by the Government.
The IMF requires a complete
and transparent report clearly identifying where the loans went to.
It should be recalled that the
Government agreed with an independent audit in order to ascertain the debt
issue, namely how the loans were secretly contracted by two public companies.
This new setback seems
difficult to resolve as the IMF doen’t want to be accused again of not paying
enough attention to corruption issues and for not requiring more transparency,
namely when the events took place.
In addition, The Economist highlights
that the modest recovery of the economy cannot be ignored and the provision of
some external financing has diminished the willingness of Mozambique to make
concessions to the MFI.
Miguel Verde - Senior Consultant, Professor of
International Relations
No comments:
Post a Comment