THE European Union (EU) has agreed to provide Mozambique with 100 million euros ($116.30 million) in coronavirus-related aid, according to EU Ambassador Antonio Sanchez-Benedito Gaspar.

The EU cut off direct budget support to Mozambique in 2016 after the country revealed the existence of hefty state-guaranteed loans that it had not previously disclosed. A number of other donors including the International Monetary Fund also halted aid to Mozambique.

Sanchez-Benedito Gaspar told a press conference in the capital Maputo that the agreement had “different characteristics” to the direct budget support the EU used to provide and was focused specifically on helping with the socio-economic consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We are happy to have carried out this specific two-year program, for an amount of 100 million euros,” he said, adding the agreement was covered by monitoring and transparency clauses.

Mozambique had reported 13,130 cases of the coronavirus as of Monday, with 94 deaths.

Source– Thomson Reuters Foundation.