Cost of Mozambique’s general elections nearly doubles to US$245 million in 2019

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Cost of Mozambique’s general elections nearly doubles to US$245 million in 2019

2:49 CAT | 09 Nov 2018

Photo: Sapo

The sixth Mozambican general elections, scheduled for 2019, will cost US$245 million, nearly the double what was spent in 2014, Economy and Finance Minister Adriano Maleiane said yesterday.

Finance Minister Maleiane said that the holding of the general elections put pressure on the 2019 state budget, but added that public spending was nevertheless under control.

Minister Maleiane was revisiting the theme of the containment of public expenditure while addressing a conference on the Mozambican economy organised by the British Financial Times group.

“Some of the money needed to hold the 2019 general elections is guaranteed, but the other part still remains to be guaranteed, but it will have to be raised because the country has a tradition of meeting the deadlines for holding elections,” he said.

In the context of current spending as a whole, “elections are an episodic event” Maleiane noted, and would not undermine the government’s fiscal consolidation efforts.

The minister said that fiscal consolidation need not entail cuts in spending, especially in social areas, but rather implied increasing the efficiency of public spending

“With the scarce resources available, we have to do more and do it better,” said Adriano Maleiane.

The Mozambican economy and finance minister said expenditure control had lowered public spending from 34.5% in 2014 to 30.3% this year.

Source: Lusa