Expenditure on salaries of Mozambican civil servants rises 40% to over €3,000 million

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Expenditure on salaries of Mozambican civil servants rises 40% to over €3,000 million

1:22 CAT | 21 Feb 2025

File photo: RTP África

The Mozambican state’s expenditure on salaries and wages grew by around 40% in 2024, compared to the previous year, to 203,853 million meticais (3,059 million euros), according to government data.

According to data from the budget execution report from January to December, this is 100% of the value estimated by the government for the entire year of 2024, but after review, taking into account the initially approved allocation of 191,747 million meticais (€2,878 million). It also compares with the 141,641 million meticais (€2,126 million) spent in 2023, which was then 80.4% of the budget.

Spending on civil service salaries in 2024 also represented more than half of Mozambique’s total public expenditure, which totalled 339,230 million meticais (€5,092 million).

The Mozambican government admitted last September that the introduction of the Single Salary Table (TSU) for the public sector worsened the state’s limited capacity to invest in priority areas, estimating a deviation of more than €300 million in two years. “A significant portion of the resources generated by the economy is being absorbed by expenses with salaries and wages. This situation has worsened with the start of the implementation of the TSU, limiting the government’s ability to invest in priority areas,” says a government report on fiscal risks for 2025.

“With the payroll representing, on average, 14.5% of GDP [Gross Domestic Product] between 2021 and 2023 and an average deviation of 21.3 billion meticais [€319.6 million] in relation to the initial allocations planned, payroll management has been a major concern for public managers, which is why there is a need to find mechanisms for its sustainability”, warned the document, from the Ministry of Economy and Finance.

It added that for 2025 the “pessimistic scenario foresees an estimated additional expenditure of 31 billion meticais [€465 million]”, which is “explained by the sensitivity of the wage bill to slower growth in nominal GDP”. “The medium-term outlook for the wage bill as a proportion of GDP suggests a slower
reduction in the pessimistic scenario (13.6% on average) compared to the baseline scenario
(12.3% on average), with a converging trend in 2027,” it also pointed out.

The application of the TSU has been the target of strong opposition from various professional classes, such as doctors and teachers, with records of salary delays and cuts, including in the security forces, leading to strikes and sectoral stoppages, particularly in health and education.

Approved in 2022 to eliminate asymmetries and keep the state’s wage bill under control, the start of the TSU caused wages to soar by around 36%, from 11.6 billion meticais per month (€174 million) to 15.8 billion meticais (€23.7 million), according to previous official data.

Source: Lusa