Maputo, Sept. 28, 2026 (Lusa) - The Mozambican Guarantee Society intends to broaden the sources of funding for the Mutual Guarantee Fund, with a particular focus on micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, the Portuguese individual who heads the institution told Lusa.

In an interview with Lusa in Maputo, Beatriz Freitas explained that the number of the fund's partners is «constantly increasing», and the fund is focusing exclusively on financial institutions, noting that it expects to secure new funding for mutual guarantees within about one year.

«I think that in a year's time we should have further funding for the fund or to set up a new fund. In a year's time. These negotiations take a long time, but in principle, in a year's time, if the fund continues to grow, we should be able to add a sum to the fund (…) We are still negotiating this, and it depends very much on what happens over the next three months, until the end of the year, more or less,» she added.

The Mutual Guarantee Fund has been operational since last year, and Mozambique's Banco Comercial de Investimentos (BCI), Standard Bank and Absa Bank manage it.

The World Bank funds it with a grant of $120 million (€104.9 million), and it aims to finance 15,000 domestic companies and create more than 20,000 jobs, she said.

«We are working with other partners; therefore, the World Bank funds this project. We have already received several expressions of interest from organisations, as well as donors and other funders who wish to work with us on guarantees here in Mozambique,» she said.

The first person to head the Mozambican fund, Beatriz Freitas, took up her post after winning an international competition organised by the World Bank. Previously, she held similar roles in Portugal, Cabo Verde and Angola and worked on projects related to mutual guarantees in Latin America.

Since the fund began operations, all beneficiary companies have maintained full compliance with their guaranteed loans, meaning that the Mozambican Guarantee Society has not yet needed to enforce any guarantee in relation to the approximately 630 companies it has supported.

Speaking to Lusa, Beatriz Freitas said one of the biggest challenges is expanding the fund's activities to all the country's provinces, while most operations remain concentrated in Maputo.

Given the country's growing exposure to extreme weather events, the fund is considering setting up a specific facility to cover these risks.

«One of the fund's objectives is also to address these climate risks facing the country; in other words, one of the objectives is to be able to reach companies when they need us. And when they need us is at times when they are investing and at times when they are in crisis due to, for example, the floods that occurred last year,» she explained.

When asked whether some companies might view the scheme as a form of subsidy, Beatriz Freitas rejected that interpretation.

«We sensed that perception at the beginning because, as the fund does not provide loans or grants, this was one of the issues we faced and which also led us to travel throughout the country and carry out outreach to explain this to companies and, at times, also to our partners as to how it worked, because we only say we provide guarantees; we do not grant loans,» she explained.

«The business owner goes to the bank; the bank assesses the application and grants the loan to the business owner. What we do is stand by the business owner to take the risk and provide the guarantee,» she added.

In the long term, she believes the system could also help to reduce the interest rates charged to the companies it covers.

«At the moment, our main objective is for as many companies as possible to have access to credit. From there, once the financial system realises how it works and how it can help, we will start to see a reduction in interest rates on transactions that we say we guarantee,» she said.

Beatriz Freitas expressed confidence in the Mozambican economy's potential, highlighting agriculture as one of the sectors with the greatest scope for growth.

«I believe Mozambique has everything it needs to grow. That is why one of the key focuses of this project is agriculture, which is one of the sectors with the greatest potential for development here,» she noted.

She argued that mutual guarantees are a fundamental tool for driving business growth, enabling, at a more advanced stage of the system, a reduction in the cost of finance.

«When these systems become mature, as well as helping with access to credit, they help to reduce the cost of credit. And that has a huge impact on businesses. It has a huge impact on their development and growth; having cheaper funding is very important when a business is starting out and when it wants to grow,» she concluded.

PME/ADB // ADB.

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