Mozambique Halved the Card Limit Abroad and Made It Permanent
MOZAMBIQUE · DOING BUSINESS
Key Facts
—The new ceiling: Aviso 4/GBM/2026 caps foreign payments made with Mozambican-issued cards at 3,000,000 meticais per calendar year, down from 6,000,000.
—In dollars: About US$47,000, using the central bank mid rate of 63.91 meticais to the dollar on 24 August 2026. The old ceiling was about US$94,000.
—In force: It was published in the official gazette on 28 July 2026 and took effect the same day, signed the previous day by Governor Rogério Lucas Zandamela.
—Who it catches: Anyone holding a card issued in Mozambique, explicitly including non-residents for exchange-control purposes, and covering credit, debit and prepaid cards.
—How it is counted: Aggregated per holder across the entire banking system, regardless of how many banks or cards, and regardless of channel, including cash withdrawals abroad.
—The permanence: The revoked 2025 rule carried a twelve-month sunset clause. The new one does not, so a temporary measure has become an open-ended one.
—The waivers: Case-by-case increases remain possible, with a bank opinion inside five working days and a central bank decision inside fifteen working days.
The Mozambique card payment limit is now three million meticais a year, about US$47,000. That is half the old six million, under a rule in force since 28 July 2026. It applies to anyone holding a card issued in Mozambique, resident or not.
What the rule says
The instrument is Aviso 4/GBM/2026, published in the Boletim da República on 28 July 2026 and in force the same day. It revokes the previous Aviso 9/GBM/2025 of 9 December 2025.
Article 5 sets a ceiling of 3,000,000.00 meticais per calendar year on payments abroad made with bank cards issued in Mozambique. At the central bank mid rate of 63.91 on 24 August, that is roughly US$47,000, or about 40,200 euros.
The scope is deliberately wide. Article 2 applies it to natural and legal persons holding Mozambican-issued cards. It says so “regardless of whether they are exchange residents or non-residents”.
That single clause is what makes this an expatriate story rather than a domestic one. The trigger is where the card was issued, not where its holder lives.
How the Mozambique card payment limit is counted
The ceiling is aggregated per holder across the entire national banking system. Holding cards at three banks does not give anyone three allowances.
It is also channel-blind. The cap applies to all payment channels, including cash withdrawals abroad. This is broader than the point-of-sale, ATM and e-commerce list Jornal Notícias used on 10 August.
Daily per-bank limits continue to apply on top. The annual ceiling does not override them.
Once the limit is reached, every institution must block that holder’s cards for foreign transactions. Domestic use is not affected, a distinction worth keeping straight.
The quieter changes that went unreported
Three amendments matter more than the headline number, and none of them appeared in the coverage we could find.
First, the old rule expired. Aviso 9/GBM/2025 carried a twelve-month sunset and would have lapsed in December 2026. The replacement carries no expiry clause at all, so an emergency measure has quietly become permanent.
Banks must now check with the central bank before issuing or renewing a card. They must see if the client has already used up the ceiling. A new card can, in effect, be born blocked for foreign use.
Third, a warning must now be sent at 75% of the limit, on top of the existing 50% and 100% triggers.
The waiver got looser as the cap got tighter
Article 6 keeps a case-by-case escape route. A reasoned application goes through any credit institution. It must give an opinion within five working days, and the central bank decides within fifteen working days.
If granted, the bank must tell the holder within one working day and update the status within another. If refused, the answer routes back through the originating bank alone.
The interesting part is what changed. The old rule capped waivers at six million meticais. The new one has no cap, using a test of “manifestly weighty cases” instead. It also drops the old need to state the period and destination country.
So the rule is half as generous and considerably more discretionary. Breaching it is an exchange-control offence under the 2022 exchange law, and prior usage under the old regime exempts nobody.
Why Maputo is doing this
The metical has not moved. Central bank daily rates held on every trading day from 20 July to 24 August. They were 63.27 buying, 64.54 selling and 63.91 mid. The annual range has sat between 63.90 and 63.92 for three consecutive years.
That is the explanation in one line. When the price of foreign exchange is not allowed to adjust, the quantity has to be rationed instead.
The bank-side half of the same crackdown arrived in the same gazette supplement. Aviso 5/GBM/2026, in force on 3 August, caps what banks may hold in foreign currency at each day’s close. The global limit is 2% long or 20% short of own funds, and 1% long or 10% short in any single currency.
That asymmetry is deliberate. Banks would rather keep hard currency than sell it. The squeeze itself is not new. The same caps came in under Aviso 4/GBM/2025 of 1 August 2025. That emergency regime ran 365 days and expired on 1 August 2026. Two days later the same numbers reappeared, this time written permanently into the 2017 prudential rules. Diário Económico and Jornal Económico both reported it in mid-August.
A correction is owed to our own readers. Our report of 30 July said the ceiling was six million meticais. That figure had been halved two days earlier, and we missed it.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Mozambique card payment limit now?
Three million meticais per calendar year for payments abroad with a Mozambican-issued card. That is about US$47,000 at the central bank mid rate of 63.91 on 24 August 2026. It was six million.
Does it apply to foreigners living in Mozambique?
Yes. The rule applies to holders of cards issued in Mozambique regardless of whether they are exchange residents or non-residents.
Does it include cash withdrawals abroad?
Yes. The ceiling applies regardless of payment channel and explicitly includes cash withdrawals, aggregated across every bank and card the holder uses.
Can the limit be increased?
Yes, case by case. A reasoned application goes through any credit institution, which gives an opinion within five working days. The central bank then decides within fifteen working days.
When did it take effect?
On 28 July 2026, the day Aviso 4/GBM/2026 was published in the official gazette. Unlike the rule it replaced, it carries no expiry date.
Connected Coverage
This updates our earlier report, Mozambique caps foreign card payments, which used the previous six-million-metical ceiling. See also Mozambique’s 2026 customs and tax procedure changes.
This article was produced by The Rio Times’ automated newsroom system. How we use AI · Report an error
LatAm Markets: Live Signals → — real-time movers, turnover leaders and FX across Latin America.
Read More from The Rio Times