{"id":29778,"date":"2026-03-24T17:06:22","date_gmt":"2026-03-24T15:06:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&#038;p=29778"},"modified":"2026-03-24T17:06:22","modified_gmt":"2026-03-24T15:06:22","slug":"imf-plans-mozambique-visit-as-debt-pressures-mount-domestic-financing-reaches-limits","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/imf-plans-mozambique-visit-as-debt-pressures-mount-domestic-financing-reaches-limits\/","title":{"rendered":"IMF plans Mozambique visit as debt pressures mount, domestic financing reaches limits"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"uSg02\">\n<div class=\"DrnCK\">\n<div class=\"HwXOf\">\n<div class=\"kcAOr t9ThB\" data-testid=\"RecipientWell\">\n<div data-tabster=\"{&quot;mover&quot;:{&quot;cyclic&quot;:false,&quot;direction&quot;:2,&quot;memorizeCurrent&quot;:false}}\">\n<div id=\"MSG_QAEQjkWeQAA_TO\" class=\"___sj378o0 fly5x3f f1l02sjl f113hnb5\" role=\"heading\" aria-level=\"3\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div data-test-id=\"mailMessageBodyContainer\">\n<div class=\"XbIp4 jmmB7 customScrollBar GNqVo allowTextSelection\">\n<div id=\"UniqueMessageBody_18\" class=\"OuGoX BIZfh\" tabindex=\"0\" role=\"document\" aria-label=\"Message body\" data-fui-focus-visible=\"\">\n<div class=\"rps_d84e\">\n<div dir=\"ltr\">\n<div>The International Monetary Fund (IMF) will visit \u200bMozambique in the coming months, a Fund Spokesperson said, as the Southern \u200cAfrican nation seeks help shoring up its increasingly strained finances and grapples with mounting public debt.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Mozambique&#8217;s sovereign spread, the premium investors demand to hold its hard-currency debt over United States Treasuries, traded at 1 304 \u200bbasis points on Tuesday, a level typically associated with severe financial distress, data \u200bfrom JPMorgan showed.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Mozambique&#8217;s previous IMF programme ended prematurely in April 2025, and \u2060the government has been in talks with the lender of last resort for a \u200bnew one. Discussions are expected during the IMF and World Bank Spring Meetings in Washington \u200bin April, the Fund said on Monday in response to questions from\u00a0<i>Reuters.<\/i><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>&#8220;A staff visit to (Mozambique&#8217;s capital) Maputo to take stock of recent economic developments and government policies is likely to take place in \u200bthe coming months,&#8221; the spokesperson said.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Mozambique&#8217;s debt problems date \u200bback to a 2016 hidden-debt scandal, which wrecked investor confidence and curbed access to funding. Delays to \u200cmajor \u2060gas projects that had been expected to boost exports, revenues and government finances have made matters worse.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>A debt report released last week by the finance ministry pointed to mounting fiscal strain.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Public debt rose 6.8% in 2025 to 474.0 billion Meticais ($7.49 billion). Central bank advances \u200bin the form of \u200bshort-term loans to \u2060the government to cover budget shortfalls, meanwhile, surged 176.1% over the year to 49.6 billion Meticais ($776 171), equivalent to 10.5% of domestic debt \u200bat year-end.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>A sharp rise in central bank financing often signals stress \u200bin normal \u2060funding channels. In Africa, Ghana&#8217;s central bank overdrafts eventually contributed to a full debt restructuring, while Nigeria converted a large volume of central bank lending into long-term bonds.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The IMF, in \u2060its latest \u200bannual review of Mozambique, noted that domestic banks the \u200bprimary buyers of government debt, have reached their appetite limits, while net external financing has turned negative, indicating \u200bthat outflows now exceed new inflows.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>&#8211;Reuters&#8211;<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":14717,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"news-type":[44],"class_list":["post-29778","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-finance","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"Mozambique's debt problems date \u200bback to a 2016 hidden-debt scandal.","published_date":"","news_description":"Mozambique's debt problems date \u200bback to a 2016 hidden-debt scandal.","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/29778","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/29778\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29780,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/29778\/revisions\/29780"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14717"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29778"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=29778"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}