Nearly 40 per cent of Mozambique´s debt is owed to China, according to the most recent data from the Mozambican Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF).
According to the data on the evolution of Mozambique’s public debt between 2017 and 2018, the country’s debt level increased 11% in the period, to USD 12.1 billion, from 11.3 billion dollars.
While the external debt increased 8%, the internal component grew 30% , as a result of the increase in bilateral and multilateral debt, as well as with the issuance of government bonds and other titles.
“90% of the stock of external public debt was contracted at fixed interest rates and the remaining 10% at variable interest rates, with an increase of around 2% in the stock of external public debt at fixed interest rates and the reduction in the same proportion of the stock at variable interest rates compared to 2017 ”, according to the Ministry´s report.
The 2018 data shows China is the largest bilateral creditor of Mozambique, with 39% (about USD 2.1 billion), followed by Credit Suisse with 13% (USD 726.52 million), Portugal with 11% (USD 602.86 million), Japan with 5% (USD 296.53 million) and Libya with 5% (USD 253.38 million).
In terms of the distribution of creditors by continent, Europeans were Mozambique´s major lenders (11 countries), followed by Asia. From Africa, only Angola and Libya lent money to Mozambique.
