Mozambique receives 118 mln USD for post-cyclones reconstruction

The Mozambican government announced that it had received 118 million U.S. dollars pledged by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for post-cyclone reconstruction, Trend reports citing Xinhua.

The amount disbursed by the IMF was allocated to the Mozambican state budget, said Minister of Public Works, Housing and Water Resources Joao Machatine.

"We have a responsibility to quickly rebuild the houses that have been completely destroyed, and to housing the people in the accommodation centers," said the minister.

Machatine spoke during the signing of a 72 million dollars allocation agreement for the Idai and Kenneth cyclones recovery and reconstruction facility.

A pledge of 1.2 billion dollars was initially announced in April at the donors' conference in Beira, the city hardest hit by cyclone Idai.

"The government is making efforts to fill the gap between what was pledged at the Beira conference and the full requirements," Machatine said.

The government and its partners are now identifying priorities by sectors for rebuilding cyclone-devastated infrastructure, said the minister.

Cyclone Idai killed at least 604 people in central provinces, affecting about 1.8 million people in March. In the following month, cyclone Kenneth killed 45 people and left 250,000 affected in the north.