These foreign currency reserves hit a one-year low in February, dropping to $3.593 billion (€3.094 billion). Six consecutive monthly increases followed, reaching $3.995 billion (€3.440 billion) in July and renewing highs in August, covering over three months of estimated import needs for goods and services, as per the latest statistical report from the Bank of Mozambique.
The central bank is implementing measures to enhance “liquidity” in the foreign exchange market, aiming to redistribute the available currency volume to ensure imports, stated Governor Rogério Zandamela on July 31.
“These measures are simply about adjusting, reallocating certain resources, placing them elsewhere, and monitoring better,” explained the governor at a press conference in Maputo, following a meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee (CMP).
“An increase in liquidity in the foreign exchange market is envisaged. To boost public sales, the Bank of Mozambique recently reduced the daily retention limits of foreign currency acquired by banks. This measure complements the decision to increase the minimum conversion rate of export revenues from 30% to 50%, implying greater availability and access to foreign currency,” he added regarding the meeting’s conclusions.
Addressing journalists after the announcement, considering the business community’s concerns about the lack of access to foreign currency, specifically for import purposes, Zandamela noted the need to adjust certain liquidity segments.
“I repeat, this is very important. One thing is the aggregate distribution of liquidity, whether it exists as a whole in our system, and another is whether it is adequately distributed among the various segments of the country, between exporters, importers, and investors,” he said.
Mozambique’s President Daniel Chapo accused banks in July of “creating” a currency shortage and turning it into a “business opportunity,” cautioning that foreign currency has never been lacking for the distribution of dividends.
“When there is a shortage of foreign currency, it starts to become a business opportunity. This happens even in commercial banks, where you conduct business every day. There is no real shortage [of currency], it is a created shortage,” said Daniel Chapo on July 15 during a meeting with local businessmen in Sofala province, central Mozambique.
The Confederation of Economic Associations (CTA) of Mozambique, the country’s largest business association, warned on February 18 that the lack of foreign currency in the banks was affecting operations, particularly in the health, aviation, fuel, and food import sectors.
