According to data from the Bank of Portugal, requested by the Lusa agency, the debt of these countries to Portugal was 1.2 billion euros in 2000, in a list where Angola, the largest Portuguese-speaking African economy, is always, by far, the most the largest debtor, with the exception of between 2014 and 2017, when Mozambique’s debt was higher.
According to data from the Bank of Portugal, the total bilateral debt of Portuguese-speaking African countries to Portugal, at the end of 2022, was 2,565 million euros, with Angola responsible for 1,054 million euros, in a list in which São Tomé and Príncipe it is the country with the least debt, with just 84 million euros, having reached its peak in 2013, the year in which the PALOPs owed 3.581 billion euros.
During a dinner, on Tuesday, with foreign correspondents in Portugal, the President of the Portuguese Republic stated that Portugal “has to pay the costs” of the crimes committed during the colonial era.
“Are there actions that were not punished and those responsible were not arrested? Are there assets that were looted and were not returned? Let’s see how we can repair this”, said Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa.
At the event, Rebelo de Sousa said that Portugal “takes full responsibility” for the mistakes of the past and remembers that these crimes, including colonial massacres, had costs.
Days later, he added that Portugal must lead the process of assuming and repairing the consequences of the period of colonialism and suggested, as an example, debt forgiveness, cooperation and financing.
Over the years, a set of initiatives have been attempted to reduce this bilateral debt, the most recent initiative being the idea of exchanging part of the debt for climate investments, in a model in which the debtor country channels the debt into projects that benefit the environment or combat or strengthen the country’s resilience to climate change.
Portugal agreed with Cape Verde and São Tomé and Príncipe to provide relief by exchanging bilateral debt for climate investments in the same amount, with the agreement signed with Cape Verde providing for 12 million euros and that for São Tomé and Príncipe is 3.5 millions of euros.
In 2022, Cape Verde’s total debt to Portugal was 630 million euros and that of São Tomé and Príncipe was 84 million euros, according to data from the Bank of Portugal.
The idea is to set up an international fund, in the case of Cape Verde, and a national one, in the case of São Tomé and Príncipe, to which Portugal will channel the amount paid by the two countries, a mandatory procedure to avoid a pardon or restructuring of the debt, from a financial point of view, which could lead to a drop in Cape Verde’s rating, as São Tomé and Príncipe does not have a rating assigned.
The new Government of Luís Montenegro considers the idea to be positive and maintains the intention of extending the model to other Portuguese-speaking African countries, said the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, Nuno Sampaio, to Lusa, on his first visit to the headquarters of the Nations United Nations (UN), in New York, on the sidelines of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) Forum on development financing, last week.
“Portugal currently has a very interesting ongoing experience with Cape Verde of debt exchange, where the amortization of Cape Verde’s debt will be converted, for now, to the value of 12 million euros into a contribution to an environmental fund. This is a concrete way, but also sustainable and innovative, and it is with this type of solutions that we have to address the issue of financing”, defended the Secretary of State.
BILATERAL DEBT…..2000…..2010…..2021…..2022 Angola……………..815… ..1,441…..928……1054 Mozambique………….245…….523…..761….. ..674 Guinea-Bissau…………65…..126…..126…….123 Cape Verde……. …….58…….268…..685…….630 São Tome and Príncipe…..30……..49. …..89……..84 TOTAL…………….1,213…..2,407…2,589…..2,565 Source : Portugal’s bank
MBA (MYMM) // PSC
Lusa/End
