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Talks to Restructure $850 Million `Tuna' Bond Rattle Mozambique

  • Currency drops for record low in Africa's second-worst decline
  • Landesbank sees no reason why debt must be reorganized
By
Tom Bowker, Paul Wallace and Xola Potelwa
Updated on

A government-appointed bank in Mozambique started talks to reorganize $850 million of debt issued by a state-owned fishing company, sending the bonds into a tailspin and the nation’s currency to a record low.

“If we manage to extend the debt, the longer we can extend it, the better,” Finance and Economy Ministry spokesman Rogerio Nkomo said in an interview in the capital, Maputo, on Monday. “If we can lower the interest rate, it’s better. We have to negotiate first.”