Two analysts heard by Lusa considered that the possible privatization of Mozambique Airlines (LAM) and the telecommunications operator Tmcel indicates the "unsustainability" of operating with "injections" from the State and the "disaster" of their management.

Last week, the Minister of Economy and Finance, Max Tonela, admitted that LAM and Tmcel may be privatized, if this is the best solution to clean up the two state-owned companies.

"We are studying ways to reorganize and restructure, also contemplating the opening to privatization, if this proves to be the best solution," said Tonela, in an interview with Lusa in the US capital, Washington, on the sidelines of the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank (WB).

Commenting on this scenario, Fernando Lima, media manager and journalist, said that the Government understood that it is unsustainable to continue to drain money to keep the two companies standing, and it is urgent to find viability solutions, which may include privatization.

"For many years, the public area companies were used as a blue bag" of sectors linked to power in Mozambique and were managed by administrators who "did not have the capacity to deny this type of demand" politics, he said.

The "assault" on the public companies, including LAM and Tmcel, "explains the disaster that happened in the two companies," he added.

Fernando Lima expressed doubts about the interest of investors in LAM, because the company has no assets, flies with leased aircraft, and the Government's apparent openness to privatization is "tactical.

"It's more of a tactical move towards giving the impression that the issue is not forgotten and that the government is working on it," he noted.

The executive, he continued, may be embarking on a maneuver to achieve debt relief for the companies, but taking care of the interests of the banks, considering the enormity of the charges that LAM and Tmcel have with creditors.

Moreover, the aviation sector is facing a crisis situation all over the world, noted Fernando Lima.

Regarding Tmcel, he argued that the company lacked investment to modernize because it operates in an ecosystem with high technological innovation.

On the other hand, he considered that it was a mistake to create Tmcel, through the merger of the former mobile phone Mcel and the former fixed operator TDM, because the latter entity was already obsolete.

For his part, economist Elcídio Bachita pointed out that the government is sending the message that it wants "sustainable solutions" for the two companies, because it is unfeasible to channel public resources or act as guarantor for the two firms indefinitely.

"The state can no longer continue to recurrently inject financial resources to companies that are in a negative position," Bachita said.

Privatization can enable the capitalization of companies, good corporate governance and with transparency, as well as robustness.

Elcídio Bachita pointed out that many years of mismanagement and corruption scandals have thrown LAM and Tmcel into a negative net worth, with huge liabilities and degraded assets.

He pointed to over-manning, cumbersome boards of directors, and high salaries as some of the bad practices plaguing firms.

The possibility of privatizing LAM and Tmcel had already been put forward on the 9th by the Minister of Transport and Communications, Mateus Magala.

An analysis by the non-governmental organization (NGO) Center for Public Integrity (CIP), released earlier this month, described the two companies as technically insolvent, surviving on capital injections and state guarantees to respond to creditors, and as such posing a high risk to public accounts. (Lusa)