JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) -The International Monetary Fund will visit Mozambique in November to continue discussions on the Southern African country’s macroeconomic challenges and possible financial support, its mission chief said on Tuesday.
The visit comes as TotalEnergies prepares to resume work on its multibillion-dollar liquefied natural gas project, which is seen boosting economic growth and fiscal revenue when it starts producing gas around the end of the decade.
It will form part of the 2025 Article IV consultation and assess policy priorities, the balance-of-payments outlook and financing needs, IMF Mission Chief to Mozambique Pablo Lopez Murphy told Reuters.
IMF Deputy Managing Director Bo Li hosted Mozambique’s President Daniel Chapo at the fund’s headquarters on Monday for talks, which Lopez Murphy said were productive.
Mozambique’s last IMF programme ended earlier this year, when it agreed not to proceed with the remaining reviews of an Extended Credit Facility arrangement and asked for a new programme.
In August IMF staff said decisive action was needed to restore macroeconomic stability after a sharp slowdown in growth in the months after last year’s disputed election.
The IMF has recommended front-loaded fiscal consolidation and greater exchange-rate flexibility among other policies.
(Reporting by Colleen Goko;Additional reporting by America Hernandez;Editing by Alexander Winning)
