The government will proceed with the payment of the 13th salary to state employees and agents, corresponding to 40% of the basic salary, announced on Tuesday (13) by the Secretary of State for Treasury and Budget, Amílcar Tivane, on the sidelines of an extraordinary session of the Council of Ministers, according to the newspaper O País.
According to the official, the payment will be made during January, in phases, as part of the government’s fiscal balancing efforts, given the constraints imposed by the current macroeconomic context.
The measure represents a reduction compared to the previous year, when a full payment of the 13th salary had been projected. “It will be a payment of 40% of the basic salary for public servants, and the process will start this month, in phases,” explained Amílcar Tivane, without specifying the exact number of beneficiaries or the total amount to be disbursed by the State.
In recent years, the payment of the 13th salary has been subject to uncertainty and repeated delays due to financial constraints in the State Budget.
In January 2025, the government acknowledged that it did not have the resources to ensure full payment of the bonus, citing limited funds and the need to maintain fiscal balance. The instability caused by this decision led to protests and demands from unions, especially in the health and education sectors.
More recently, at the beginning of 2026, Prime Minister Benvinda Levi publicly stated that the State still had no concrete solutions to guarantee the full payment of the annual bonus, emphasizing that any decision would depend on the evolution of public finances. Analysts interpreted these statements as a signal of the ongoing pressure on the wage bill and the priority given to critical sectors.
The 13th salary is traditionally regarded as a right of public administration workers, although in recent years it has been conditioned by the economic situation and the commitments assumed by the government with its international partners.
The current decision to pay 40% thus represents an attempt to partially honor this right while mitigating budgetary impacts.
