Mozambique: Portugal cancels debt

Portugal has cancelled $393.4 million of Mozambique’s debt. An additional loan agreement of $148 million was promptly signed. Mozambique gained its independence in 1975, after 500 years of Portuguese colonisation. The new government inherited an economy that was under-developed and poor, with 90% of its population illiterate. To reverse this situation, the government embarked on ambitious development programmes with the view to reducing poverty and developing the economy.