German bank inaugurates southern African regional office

The German development bank, KFW, on Monday inaugurated its southern African regional office in Maputo. It will supervise its activities in Mozambique, Malawi as well as Zambia. In Mozambique alone, KFW has financed development activities budgeted at about 400 million euro (560 million US dollars). The main task of the Maputo office will be to assist KFW's Mozambican partners in all matters relating to the technical and administrative implementation of bilateral projects and programmes.

The German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation had already instructed KFW to administer the funding of development activities in Mozambique about 20 years ago. It has become one of the main German vehicles for development cooperation, working in close cooperation with other German institutions. Based on the intergovernmental negotiations held every two years, the Mozambican and German governments decide jointly on the programmes to be financed by KFW. In the 1980s, KFW channelled funds towards rehabilitating infrastructures destroyed by the apartheid-backed Renamo soldiers.

In the 1990s, the emphasis switched away from reconstruction towards development, education, rural development, economic reform, and the development of a market economy are among the areas regarded as priorities for KFW funding. KFW now claims to be one of the largest banks in Germany, with total assets at the end of 2002 of 261 billion euro. (Agencia de Informação de Moçambique, Maputo)