Six commercial banks in Mozambique have signed agreements allowing them to finance small and medium-sized enterprises with support from the Mutual Guarantee Fund, President Daniel Chapo announced on Wednesday 21 October at the Women's Economic Forum held in Maputo.
The scheme, endowed with 120 million dollars with support from the World Bank, is intended to facilitate access to credit for companies that lack sufficient assets to secure a loan. The state shares part of the risk with financial institutions in the event of a beneficiary's default.
The fund does not lend directly to companies and does not distribute grants. Applications remain under review by the banks, which decide whether to grant credit. This structure aims to reduce the obstacle of collateral without removing the assessment of repayment capacity.
The announcement, published on Thursday 22 October, does not specify the names of the six signatories, the rates offered or the date of the first disbursements. It therefore marks a contractual extension of the mechanism, not confirmation that the 120 million dollars have already been lent.
Daniel Chapo has asked that businesses led by women benefit more from the scheme. The government is also examining legal adjustments to ease their access to markets linked to major projects in energy, extractive industries, agriculture, tourism and the digital economy.
The fund has been operating since 2025 with Banco Comercial e de Investimentos, Standard Bank and Absa Bank. The Bank of Mozambique brought together lending institutions and the mechanism's managers on 6 October to prepare for the expansion of its use.