(Ecofin Agency) - Mozambique’s president, Filipe Nyusi, pledged to work with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) regarding the international audit of its public debt, the institution said in a statement cited by Reuters.

The president’s commitment comes after he met in Washington with Christine Lagarde, IMF’s head, to reassure international institutions and investors concerning the scandal which exposed this year a debt of over $2 billion hid by his country. The Bretton Woods institution had in fact cancelled on April 15, a delegation of experts which was to go to Maputo to examine public accounts and approve payment for another loan tranche, after finding out that the country hid $1.4 billion of debts from international finance institutions. The loans, which were taken in secret in 2013 and 2014, and were used to finance military ships and port installations to protect strategic infrastructures, brought the country’s public debt to 86% of GDP.

Following IMF’s move, the World Bank also decided on April 27, 2016, to suspend all financial aid to Mozambique’s development program, indicating it would wait for the nation’s debt to be looked at (which is in process) by the International Monetary Fund. An IMF delegation will, to this end, go to Maputo next week to begin the audit.

The scandal has significantly affected the Portuguese-speaking nation which currently records a default payment similar to Greece’s and which had its rating lowered by ratings agencies.

Mozambique is sub-Saharan Africa’s fifth most indebted nation in 2016, according to regional economic outlook released by the IMF.

Alain Okpeitcha