Bank of Mozambique opens five new branches in the north of the country.

Maputo, Mozambique, 14 Sept – The Bank of Mozambique is set to open new branches in five cities in the north of the East African country in order to contribute to the banking level of the economy, said the state-owned bank’s director.Waldemar de Sousa, director of the Mozambican central bank, said in a press conference cited by Mozambican daily Notícias, that the new branches would be opened in the cities of Pemba, Quelimane, Lichinga, Tete and Maxixe, and would not only provide physical access to the bank, but also make it possible to attract savings and disseminate the use of financial services in the north of Mozambique.

Despite there being, “a legal framework to make it easier to set up and develop complementary financial institutions, such as micro-banks,“ he said, “we have to do more,” because, “the levels of banking in the economy are worrying.” “It is not enough to approve and put into practice legislation to attract economic agents to carry out this activity. We are aware that we have to do more and, because of that, we have decided to set an example,” Sousa said.

He added that with “central bank agents spread over the country,” the Bank of Mozambique would “perfect the set of functions it is charged with, whether in the area of supervision, or in gathering information, or even in making that information available quickly to economic agents and the population at large.

”Current legislation had made it possible for 45 micro-financing institutions to be operating in the country, Sousa said.

According to Sousa, the widening of the presence of the Bank of Mozambique would also contribute to easing the process of introduction of the so-called “new family” metical currency, which is simultaneously in circulation with the old currency until the end of the year.

(Macauhub - Macau, China - 14/09/06)