The Mozambican parliament approved by consensus the reduction in salaries and allowances of ministers, deputy ministers, secretaries of state and deputies, among other holders and members of public bodies.
The measure announced by the Council of Ministers on Thursday and now put to a vote was justified in Parliament by the Minister of Economy and Finance, Max Tonela, with the need to strengthen the justice of salaries and sustainability of public accounts.
“The proposed changes consist fundamentally of a downward revision of salaries and allowances for representation of the guardians and members of sovereign bodies and public bodies, with a view to contributing to reducing the gap between the top and the bottom,” strengthening “fairness of salaries in public administration” and improving the “sustainability” of public accounts, he said.
“The proposal is in line with the objectives of improving the management of public finances and aims to increase the resource envelope to finance vital sectors and boost the economy,” he added.
As announced on Thursday, Max Tonela reiterated that the Government “will keep unchanged the Single Wage Table (TSU) applied to other civil servants and public servants, as approved by the Council of Ministers in January.”
The move revises, amongst other things, the pay of members of provincial assemblies, as they are “much higher than that of executive bodies at a provincial and national level, as well as of professional specialists from various sectors of the State,” the government had explained in a statement.
One of the bodies paying close attention to Mozambican public spending is the International Monetary Fund (IMF), via the financial support programme for the country of US$450 million (415 million euros) until 2025, approved a year ago.
The IMF has already warned about the imbalances that could lead to a higher than expected wage bill, which should lead to a review of some points of the programme in order to keep it sustainable.
The revision is expected to lead to the IMF’s third disbursement under the programme, worth about $70 million (€65 million).
The TSU was approved in 2022 in order to eliminate asymmetries and keep the state wage bill under control in the medium term, but the start-up caused wages to soar by about 36%, from 11.6 billion meticais/month (169 million euros/month) to 15.8 billion meticais/month (231 million euros/month).
In January, the Government announced corrective measures, complemented by today’s decision, and a complementary audit is still ongoing.
