One year on from the launch of the Package of 20 Measures for Economic Acceleration (PAE in Portuguese), the government says it has made significant progress towards achieving the objectives set out in the instrument’s design. The PAE aims to boost economic activity by implementing short and medium-term measures, including tax incentives to promote growth, reducing bureaucracy and simplifying procedures to promote growth and increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of institutions for economic growth.
In the Proposal for the Economic and Social Plan and State Budget (PESOE) 2024, the government highlights progress in Measures 1 to 4, pointing to the approval of the Tax Package which, among other actions, reduced Value Added Tax (VAT) from 17 per cent to 16 per cent with the aim of increasing families’ purchasing power, stimulating the economy.
Within the scope of Measure 6, the government recalls the approval of Diploma no. 91/2023 of 16 June on the Regulation of Reference Prices for the purpose of determining the mining product, underpinned by Law no. 15/2017 of 28 December, which approves the Specific Taxation and Tax Benefits Regime for Mining Activity.
The PESOE 2024 Proposal also mentions the approval of Decree 40/2023 of 07 July, which allocates 10% of Natural Resources Tax Revenue to the development of the provinces where extraction takes place, in the context of Measure 8. The government also highlighted Measure 11, under which the manual procedure and cash collection for issuing the Temporary Import Tax (TIP) at the Ressano Garcia border and the payment of the Customs Service Tax (TSA) for issuing the temporary import document for vehicles at national borders were eliminated.
According to the PESOE 2024 Proposal, the Executive also guaranteed the implementation of Measure 13, with the launch of the e-Visa platform for issuing visas electronically, as well as the approval of the decree exempting 29 countries from the need for tourist and business visas to enter Mozambique. As part of Measure 14, the document refers to the approval by Parliament of the new Investment and Labour Laws, making them more attractive to foreign investment.
Finally, in the context of Measure 15, it highlights the approval of Decree no. 27/2023, of 23 May, of the Mere Communication Regulation, which eliminates the need for a licence in a further 55 classifications, increasing the number of economic activities exempt from the licence from 11 to 66, and the approval of the draft law authorising the revision of the Notaries Code and the Decree allowing complex notarial acts to be carried out by lawyers.
Based on this data, it can be seen that the government has only guaranteed the implementation of eight measures out of a total of 20, which means that 12 remain to be approved. However, it guarantees that in 2024 it will endeavour to fully implement the measures and ensure that the economy grows by 5.1% per year within the next two years.
“For the year 2024, the efforts of the sectors will not cease, in order to ensure that all the measures set out in the SAP are achieved, which has been achieving its objectives and contributing to a greater dynamisation of the Mozambican economy. With the implementation of the measures, medium-term economic growth of 5.1% per year is expected, which could attract more domestic and foreign private investment and boost productive sectors such as agribusiness, aquaculture, tourism, transport and construction,” the government assures in the 2024 PESOE Proposal.
Carta de Moçambique
