Industry & Sustainablity: Mozambican development fund submitted to Council of Ministers before end of year

The feasibility of setting up the National Development Fund in Mozambique is currently being studied by the Economy and Finance Ministry and a proposal should be submitted to the Council of Ministers before the end of the year, the respective minister stated on Tuesday in Maputo.

Various funds already exist in Mozambique, said Minister Adriano Maleiane, cited by the newspaper O País. He added that it was “important to understand how they can be coordinated in order to have a fund on the national scale that can finance projects.”

Maleiane guaranteed that the proposal to set up that fund, which will be maintained by revenue from the application of capital gains tax, will be taken to the Council of Ministers before the end of the year.

The National Development Fund will function similar to a sovereign wealth fund and should finance various projects for the country’s development.

At the end of a meeting with directors of the Confederation of Mozambican Economic Associations (CTA), Maleiane explained that the Tax Authority can already issue the payment order for US$350 million owed by the Italian group ENI for the deal with the American group ExxonMobil.

The Authority announced on 3 August that it was awaiting government authorization to collect the amount owed. The minister has now stated that the payment only depends on authorization from foreign regulatory bodies when the deal is closed.

During the meeting with the CTA representatives, various complaints were put forward to the minister, regarding issues such as commercial bank interest rates “that are suffocating companies” and early payment of value added tax before selling products to consumers. (source: Macauhub)