Good afternoon. Prime minister Benvida Levi’s visit to China this week (see below) underlines the importance of Mozambique-China relations in the eyes of the Mozambican government. Levi came away with a modest win in the form of China forgiving most of the interest on its loans to the Mozambican state, and making a donation of 100m yuan ($14m). That is welcome, given that China is Mozambique’s biggest creditor nation (holding 13.7% of the state’s foreign debt, according to the latest figures) and the government spends most of its revenues on repaying its debts. But the Mozambican government is hoping for more. A bigger victory would be if it persuaded the Chinese government to extend new loans to Mozambique. But China seems to remain unwilling to do this, given Mozambique’s difficulties in paying back its existing debts. The days when the Chinese government handed over loans to finance big projects like the Maputo-Katembe bridge have not yet returned.
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So Levi’s visit was about more than just formalising the forgiveness of the loan interest. The Mozambican government is eager to show China that it is a friend, including by members of the government regularly showing their face in China (foreign minister Maria Manuela Lucas was there a few months ago). And indeed the Chinese government maintains a friendly attitude, as Chinese president Xi Jinping showed yesterday when he talked about the two countries deepening their partnership together. Even if that friendliness does not quite extend to giving the Mozambican government everything it wants.
