Beira, Mozambique, July 15, 2025 (Lusa) - Mozambique's President Daniel Chapo accused banks of “creating” foreign currency shortages and turning them into “business opportunities,” emphasising that foreign currency for dividend distribution has always been available.
“When foreign currency becomes scarce, people start turning that scarcity into a business opportunity. This happens even in commercial banks, [where] you do business every day. The available foreign currency meets needs, and the perceived shortage is a created effect,” said Daniel Chapo at a meeting with local businesspeople in the province of Sofala, central Mozambique, where he has been visiting since Monday.
The Confederation of Economic Associations (CTA) of Mozambique, the country’s largest business association, warned on 18 February that the limited availability of foreign currency in the market and banks was affecting operations, especially in the health, aviation, fuel, and food import sectors.
During the meeting in Sofala, listening to the concerns of local businesspeople, Chapo said that, despite the shortage of foreign currency in the banking sector, the currency had always been available for “paying dividends among themselves” or “paying salaries to their employees,” asking: “Have you ever heard that the currency was lacking? It will only be lacking for Félix Machado [a local businessman] when he wants to import something. So, it is really a situation that we have to continue to work to overcome.” Chapo demanded a “transparent exchange rate policy” from the central bank to make foreign currency available to businesspeople and “promoting development,” rather than acting as a “guardian of scarcity.”
Mozambique’s net international reserves (RIL) renewed four-year highs, growing in May to $3.825 billion (€3.270 billion), according to central bank data that Lusa reported this week.
These reserves, in foreign currency, had recorded their lowest value in about a year in February, falling to $3.593 billion (€3.072 billion), before experiencing three consecutive monthly increases. They grew 1% in March to $3.619 billion (€3.094 billion), 4.3% in April and another 1.5% in May, according to the latest statistical report from the Bank of Mozambique.
In May, international reserves covered more than three months of estimated import needs.
The governor of the Bank of Mozambique, Rogério Zandamela, acknowledged on 30 May 2024 that the country had experienced a “dollarisation” of the economy between the end of 2024 and the beginning of this year, following the post-election crisis, particularly in the attempt to withdraw foreign currency from banks.
“Today, looking back, clarity emerged later, but January was certainly the most difficult moment [...], I would say from the end of the year, specifically December and January. Then things calmed down,” said the governor, responding to journalists at the end of the Monetary Policy Committee (CPMO) meeting.
Journalists asked Zandamela, in particular, about the guarantee he gave at the end of March that there would be sufficient liquidity in the foreign exchange market, at a time when business leaders sought greater access to foreign currency for imports. The central bank adopted regulations the following month to facilitate the process.
He also said that they adopted the position following an assessment at the time, and their subsequent review showed an attempt in the market to “shield itself with the ‘dollarisation’ of financial and non-financial assets”.
“It is also a problem of confidence. When people lose confidence, you see a decrease in the number of trips abroad during that period; many people leave the country. Some lost confidence in the country, some wanted to sell everything they had and leave: ‘Does our country have a future?’ This pressure is natural; it happened. But no one said what they were doing, and they preferred to remain silent,” he said.
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