"We faced security threats, such as piracy ... illegal immigration,
drug trafficking ... and illegal fishing," Saide said after a meeting of
Mozambique's cabinet.
The
International Monetary Fund (IMF) logo is seen at the IMF headquarters
building during the 2013 Spring Meeting of the International Monetary
Fund and World Bank in Washington, April 18, 2013.
Mozambique provided guarantees on loans to state firms Proindicus
and Mozambique Asset Management to protect strategic national
infrastructure and help maintain naval equipment, a government spokesman
said.
The spokesman's comment, in a statement, followed disclosure by the International Monetary Fund
last week that Mozambique had admitted to having more than $1 billion
of undisclosed debt and that the two parties were evaluating the
implications of the disclosure.
Earlier, a source
at the Fund had told Reuters that Proindicus, owned by the interior and
defence ministries and the state security services, had been lent $504
million by Credit Suisse and $118 million by Russia's VTB.
Another
loan of $535 million had gone to Mozambique Asset Management, another
state company set up to build a shipyard in the northern city of Pemba,
that source said.
In his statement dated Tuesday
but acquired by Reuters on Wednesday, spokesman Mouzinho Saide said the
government had granted a $622 million loan guarantee to Proindicus in
2013, and $535 million to Mozambique Asset Management the following
year.
"We faced security threats, such as piracy ... illegal immigration, drug trafficking ... and illegal fishing," Saide said after a meeting of Mozambique's cabinet.
He
said the government had also been keen to ensure protection of the
assets of oil and gas companies operating in Mozambique's exclusive
economic zone.
The loans are in addition to an
$850 million 'tuna bond' issued in 2013 and restructured last month
because the southeast African nation was struggling to meet repayments.
The IMF source said the extra borrowing had pushed Mozambique's foreign debt to $9.64 billion, a level "very close to unsustainability".
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