/ 5 July 1999

MOZ/PORTUGUESE FINANCE TALKS

PORTUGUESE finance minister Sousa Franco is scheduled to arrive in Maputo on Sunday for a four-day visit to discuss the country’s foreign debt and electricity tariffs charged by the Cabora Bassa Dam. Government officials said he would discuss a possible rescheduling of Mozambique’s debt to Portugal. Portugal has already rescheduled Mozambique’s debt four times to US$173-million in 1987, to US$70,5-million in 1991, up to US$145,5-million in 1992 and US$149-million in 1993. Mozambique’s non-scheduled debt is currently US$19,5-million, with Portugal expressing interest in converting the debt into investment in the country’s rapidly privatising State industries. Portugal already owns shares in the Cabora Bassa dam’s hydro-electricity plant (HCB) and Franco is expected to discuss the growing price dispute between the plant’s management and South African public utility company, Eskom.