1/ The steel is ready. The dollars aren’t. 🧵 A Maputo importer orders from South Africa and the invoice is due in dollars. Getting them through the bank can take weeks.

1/ In March, Mozambique repaid $696M to the IMF, ahead of schedule. Six months later, it’s asking for help again. 🧵

1/ The Gulf shipped almost $6B of goods into just five African markets last year. 🧵

1/ Collecting kwacha in Malawi is the easy part. Getting it out is a different story. 🧵

1/ Africa is buying billions from China. Every year. South Africa: $22B Egypt: $15B Nigeria: $13B, up 37%. 🧵

8/ It's who has to wait six weeks to get them → linkio.world/get-started

7/ The question isn't whether Mozambique has dollars.

6/ And it's not that the money isn't moving, $3.5B moved through the system in Q1, right in line with the 5-year average.

5/ Even bread is on the list. The Bakers Association says wheat flour shipments have stalled over dollar access.

4/ Here's what it looks like on the ground: Supplier ships, Buyer wants to pay, Bank can't release dollars in time.

3/ So people turn to the unofficial market. That now costs 14%, up from under 10% last year.

2/ The cost of not getting dollars: 500+ companies closed. ~15,000 jobs lost. Businesses that couldn't get FX saw their ability to import fall by 40%.

1/ Mozambican businesses are owed $373M. The money exists. Getting it is the problem. 🧵

1/ Ghana bought $4.5B of goods from China last year.🧵

1/ 88.2% of Malawian businesses say the same thing is holding them back. Last year it was 74%. 🧵

1/ In Malawi, dollars are hard to get. Not because the payment system is broken. Because of what comes first. 🧵

1/ Every fintech expanding into Africa hits the same wall. The opportunity is obvious. What comes next usually isn't. 🧵

To pay a Chinese supplier, a company in Central Africa converts its money three times. Three conversions. One payment. Still not there. 🧵

Angola is one of Africa's largest oil exporters. You'd think dollars are the one thing businesses there never worry about. 🧵