Mozambique: Government delays salary adjustment to the second half of the year

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Mozambique: Government delays salary adjustment to the second half of the year

11:44 CAT | 05 May 2025

Photo: Ministério do Trabalho, Género e Acção Social

The Mozambican government has postponed salary negotiations until the second half of this year, on the grounds of the country’s economic instability, an official source announced.

“The start of the [negotiations] process has been postponed until the second half of the year, depending on an assessment of the economic situation,” said the Minister of Labour, Gender and Social Action of Mozambique, Ivete Ferrão Alane , quoted on Friday by local media.

In Mozambique, salary adjustment negotiations, especially in the public sector, usually take place at the beginning of each year, between January and April.

Without giving specific dates, the minister stated that salary negotiations would only take place after assessments of the national economy and the implementation of measures to improve it.

“The economic situation is still not clear as to how it will improve,” Minister Alane added.

The decision comes at a time when the country is still struggling with an economic crisis resulting from the recent and devastating post-election protests that led to vandalism at more than 500 companies, leaving at least 12,000 people without jobs, according to data previously provided to Lusa by the Confederation of Economic Associations of Mozambique (CTA).

The private sector CTA itself on April 9 called for the postponement of salary adjustment negotiations until August.

“We must take into account today that a wage adjustment would have an immediate impact, an average increase of 4% on companies’ costs, especially in labour-intensive sectors. Given this situation, as a confederation, we want to propose postponing the negotiation of the minimum wage adjustment until August 2025,” CTA president Agostinho Vuma said at the opening of the organization’s Labour Consultative Committee in Maputo.

The CTA said in a note that the appeal comes as a result of instability in the country’s business sector caused by the post-electoral crisis.

Mozambique has experienced the worst protests the country has seen since the first multiparty elections (1994), led by former presidential candidate Venâncio Mondlane, who rejects the election results of October 9, 2024, which gave victory to Daniel Chapo.

Almost 400 people lost their lives as a result of clashes between the police and protesters, according to data from civil society organizations, which also led to looting and destruction of businesses and public infrastructure.

However, on March 23, Mondlane and Daniel Chapo, the inaugurated President, met for the first time and a commitment was made to end the post-election violence in the country, although, currently, mutual criticism and accusations continue in the public statements of the two politicians.

Source: Lusa