The Governor of the Bank of Mozambique recently asked four banks operating in the country to offer more affordable interest rates on lending to small and medium enterprises, according to Mozambican daily newspaper Notícias.

Ernesto Gove was speaking after signing contracts with Banco Commercial e de Investimentos (BCI), Millennium bim, MozaBanco and Banco Oportunidade under the credit lines for the financial sector that the German government has granted Mozambique to support the development of micro, small and medium enterprises.

Based on a Financial Contribution Agreement signed by the government of Mozambique and German development bank KfW, as part of the “Sustainable Economic Development Programme – Promoting the Financial Sector” on 22 October 2012, the Bank of Mozambique is responsible for execution of one of its components, with a financial package of 18 million euros.

This amount is intended to finance credit lines to support the promotion of micro, small and medium enterprises and investments in the renewable energy sector as well as for technical assistance to ensure proper application of the funding and with the expected returns.

In October 2013 the Bank of Mozambique invited credit institutions operating in the country to express their interest in becoming institutional partners of the programme.

“The four signatory institutions were included because they met the requirements to serve as intermediaries for financing such credit lines,” said Gove. (macauhub/MZ)