Adriano Maleiane, who was speaking to Bloomberg today, said that "the macroeconomic assumptions that underpinned the renegotiations of the debt securities with the creditors' committee remain unchanged, there is no reason to anticipate that scenario.

Mozambique is counting on gas revenues to support rising debt costs and ensure repayment of public debt, which the International Monetary Fund predicts will reach 133.6%, the third highest ratio to GDP in sub-Saharan Africa.

The debt coupons rise from 5% to 9% in March 2024, and were restructured based on the original gas production schedule by TotalEnergies, which was to begin in 2024 but was delayed to at least 2026 due to the conflict in the north of the country.

Mozambique now has three development projects approved to exploit the natural gas reserves in the Rovuma basin, classified among the largest in the world, off the coast of Cabo Delgado.

Two of these projects are larger and foresee channeling the gas from the seabed to land, cooling it in a plant to export it by sea in a liquid state. One is led by TotalEnergies (the Area 1 consortium) and work progressed until it was suspended indefinitely after an armed attack on Palma in March.

A third, smaller, nearly completed project also belongs to the Area 4 consortium and consists of a floating platform that will capture and process gas for export, directly at sea, with start-up scheduled for 2022.

The other is the still unannounced investment led by ExxonMobil and Eni (Area 4 consortium).