
REUTERS FACTBOX What Mozambique owes, and to whom Fabio Scala –Further Africa, May 26, 201 6 Mozambique is in a deep foreign debt crisis that analysts say could lead to social unrest if it continues to hammer the economy and currency, fuelling inflation and making it harder for the government to pay civil servants. This week, it missed a deadline for a scheduled repayment on a $535 million loan organised by Russia’s VTB Bank, according to a finance ministry source, putting the war-scarred southern African nation on course for default. An $850 million Eurobond launched in 2013 was rescheduled in late March after the government again struggled to make a repayment. Ratings agency Standard & Poor’s classified it as a “selective default”. Foreign debt – including $2 billion of commercial borrowing arranged without consulting parliament, as required – has ballooned in the last four years, largely due to expectations Mozambique was about to become ...