Mozambique: Mobile phone company announces wage freeze in 2018

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Mozambique: Mobile phone company announces wage freeze in 2018

11:22 CAT | 01 Dec 2017

Lusa (File photo) / Mcell headquarters in Maputo

Mcel announced yesterday that, as a result of the “fragile and difficult financial situation” it faces, there will be no salary increases in the company.

“The board of directors and the Workers’ Committee of Mcel have concluded the wage negotiation process and have agreed that there will be no increase in the course of 2018,” a statement sent to Lusa reads.

The company’s board of directors has however promised the payment of the 13th month salary, despite the company’s poor results.

The company is in a crisis situation and, as a result of the “fragile and difficult financial situation”, the government had decided to merge the company with the Mozambican Telecommunications Company (TDM).

The Institute for the Management of State Holdings (IGEPE), which manages the interests of the Mozambican state in public companies, appointed a board of directors to conduct the merger between telecom operators Mcel and TDM in June.

The measure fits into the restructuring of public sector business, given the difficult financial situation of most Mozambican public companies.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) recently pointed to the need for the Mozambican government to review its portfolio of holdings in the context of measures to control the public deficit.

The Confederation of Mozambican Economic Associations (CTA), the country’s main employers’ association, has proposed that the government accept a rescheduling of state debt to companies, aimed at reviving private sector liquidity.

Mozambican public finances are at a very tight juncture as a result of the economic crisis the country has faced in recent months. In 2016, Mozambique’s gross domestic product recorded its lowest growth in recent decades at just 3.8 percent, with a modest rise to 4.7 percent this year.

Source: Lusa