State operating expenses fell by 2.2 per cent last year, to 330.4 billion meticals, but personnel costs exceeded the budget.
According to the economic and social balance of the implementation of the 2023 State Budget, this performance corresponds to 97.1 per cent of all planned state operating expenses, valued at almost 316.9 billion meticals.
The document released by the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF) explains that the biggest item was personnel expenses, which “exceeded the limit” of 176.9 billion meticals of the initial quote, totalling 203 billion meticals.
In 2022, the state had personnel expenses [salaries and other remuneration] valued at 194.4 billion meticals.
In January, the government admitted that the reform of the Single Salary Table (TSU) in the Civil Service, which began to be implemented in 2022, had “higher costs than estimated”, stressing that it will go ahead with a programme of cuts in order to reduce spending.
“In addition to a package of corrective measures of around 1% of GDP (made up of measures to reduce revenue and the wage bill), we have approved a medium-term action plan to help reduce the wage bill to 10% of GDP,” says a letter sent to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), signed by the Minister of Economy and Finance, Max Tonela, and the Governor of the Bank of Mozambique, Rogério Zandamela.
The TSU was approved in 2022 with the aim of eliminating asymmetries and keeping the state wage bill under control in the medium term. However, its inception caused salaries to skyrocket by 36 per cent, from an expenditure of 11.6 billion meticais/month to 15.8 billion meticals/month.
The new state salary matrix has 21 levels, from 8756 to 165,700 meticals.
