Mr. Johannes Mueller, International Monetary Fund (IMF) Mission Chief for Mozambique, has said this in a statement issued the following statement in Maputo at the conclusion of the mission on March 31.

It was stated that Mozambique's strong economic fundamentals and prudent macroeconomic policy mix over the past two decades have provided the necessary flexibility to ease macroeconomic policies in 2009 to respond to the global economic crisis. For 2010, the mission supports the authorities' intention to begin unwinding the monetary and fiscal stimulus initiated last year, which will help maintain macroeconomic stability and restore the policy buffers that served Mozambique well during the past year. Over the medium to long term, the mission agreed with the authorities' intention to step up priority transportation and electricity infrastructure investment in an effort to further raise Mozambique's growth and export potential. However, consistent with the main themes at the three-day seminar in Namaacha, the mission stressed the importance of ensuring that such investment has a high rate of return and helps generate additional private sector investment as well. In particular, it will be important to follow a cautious approach in accessing external non-concessional borrowing so as to preserve Mozambique's strong track record of macroeconomic stability. The authorities' economic program that will be supported under the successor PSI will emphasize continued reforms to boost tax administration and public financial management and further strengthen public debt management.

“The IMF's Executive Board is scheduled to discuss the final PSI/ESF program review under the current program and Mozambique's request for a new three-year PSI in June 2010.”