By Luzia Santos
The Mozambican Council of Ministers recently approved a reduction in remuneration and representation allowances for ministers, vice-ministers, secretaries of state, and parliamentarians, among other holders and members of public bodies.
The proposal also revises the remuneration of members of provincial assemblies, which are at values “much higher than those of executive bodies of provincial and national scope, as well as professional experts from various sectors of the state,” contrary to the principle of fair pay, read a statement.
The values of the reduction were not revealed.
“This revision will improve the sustainability of the State wage bill and is in perfect alignment with the structural reforms that the Government has been implementing,” justifies the executive cited by Lusa, guaranteeing that the Single Wage Table (TSU) applicable to the rest of public employees will remain unchanged.
The proposal approved by the Council of Ministers will be submitted to the Parliament in the coming days.
One of the entities paying attention to Mozambique’s public spending is the International Monetary Fund (IMF), through the financial support program for the country worth 450 million dollars until 2025 approved a year ago.
The IMF has already warned about the imbalances that may cause a higher-than-expected wage bill, which should lead to a review of some points of the program to keep it sustainable.
The revision will lead to the third IMF disbursement under the program, amounting to about US$70 million.
The TSU was approved in 2022 to eliminate asymmetries and keep the state’s wage bill under control in the medium term, but the start-up caused wages to skyrocket by about 36%, from €169 million/month to €231 million/month.
In January, the government announced corrective measures, complemented by the recent announcement, and a complementary audit is still underway.
With information from Forbes
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