Mozambique’s attorney general has appointed U.S. risk management firm Kroll to conduct the audit of the country’s debt after it was discovered that more than $2 billion in loans had been hidden by public firms, local media reported on November 5.

The Mozambique News Agency will audit Mozambique Tuna Company (Ematum), Proindicus and Mozambique Asset Management.

The audit is a condition set by the International Monetary Fund to restart providing financial to Maputo which it halted after the scandal came to light. The institution has also negotiated a bailout plan for the economy that records an unprecedented crisis. The other condition imposed by the IMF is that Mozambique restructures its external debt.

Truly, last October 26, the Mozambican government agreed that its debt, which soared after the hidden loans were unveiled, became “unbearable” and said it wished to restructure it.

According to the IMF, Mozambique’s public debt should reach 130% of its GDP in 2016, against 86% in 2015.

In April 2016, Mozambique found itself in a financial (and political) scandal as it was found that various State firms had hidden $1.4 billion in loans. To these adds an $850 million bond secretely issued by Ematum to order 30 ships from a shipyard in Chebourg, France.

Walid Khefifi