A group led by TotalEnergies is likely to resume work on a liquefied natural gas project in Mozambique early this year, writes the Bloomberg news agency quoting the International Monetary Fund, IMF.

"Security conditions in the north continue to improve and the major LNG project that was halted in April 2021 is expected to restart in early 2024," the IMF said in a statement. report published on Tuesday.

The resumption of the project could be crucial in helping Mozambique avoid having to restructure a 900 million dollar Eurobond, the payment of which the government is due to start in 2028. The IMF expects production to begin in 2027, according to the report.

By TotalEnergies' own forecasts, this could be optimistic: the company said last year that production would begin four years after the project resumed.

An even larger LNG export project that ExxonMobil is planning near the TotalEnergies plant will begin trading in 2029, according to the Washington-based lender, further quoted by Bloomberg.

Meanwhile, Islamic State has been claiming a series of smaller attacks at the end of December and the beginning of this year, mainly targeting civilians.

As a result, more than 1,800 people have fled their homes, according to a January 12 statement by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

The IMF warned that social conditions remain fragile, even though security has improved.

"Although food insecurity affects around 10% of the population, humanitarian assistance programs (such as the World Food Program) are struggling to obtain funding," he said. "Maintaining peace and stability in the region depends vitally on humanitarian assistance.