Mozambique: Government considers mergers and closures among country’s 98 public institutes

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Mozambique: Government considers mergers and closures among country’s 98 public institutes

6:22 CAT | 24 Jul 2025

FILE - "Based on the survey conducted in this reflection, there are approximately 98 public institutes, of which 56 are category A. Category A institutions are those that, in principle, have financial autonomy in their operating structure. But this assessment revealed that, despite having financial autonomy by nature, in actual terms, they have not been as sustainable as expected," the Cabinet spokesperson said. {File photo: Lusa[

Mozambique has 98 public institutes, more than half of which are financially autonomous, but most lack sustainability, according to the government, so prompting consideration of their merger or closure.

According to the government, the “financial sustainability of public institutes and funds” was analysed at the Council of Ministers (cabinet) meeting in Maputo on Tuesday, but the “reflection” tended to “only analyse” the “financial perspective”.

“It was necessary, from the debate that took place during the reflection, to also consider the need to assist society, for example, the most vulnerable groups,” explained Council of Ministers spokesperson Inocêncio Impissa after the meeting.

However, hImpissa said, the objective “of making the administrative machinery, public institutions, more results-oriented and more focused on activity rather than on their structure” remains “a goal”, so as to “see if we can slim down” the public structure.

“Based on the survey conducted in this reflection, there are approximately 98 public institutes, of which 56 are category A. Category A institutions are those that, in principle, have financial autonomy in their operating structure. But this assessment revealed that, despite having financial autonomy by nature, in actual terms, they have not been as sustainable as expected,” the government spokesperson said.

It is therefore necessary to “generate a set of measures, whether for merger, dissolution, or simply extinction, depending on the assessment made of each of them”.

“However, the purpose for which they were created could, for example, result in the transfer of all the responsibilities these institutes previously performed to a specific sector or simply a merger and the creation of another entity to ensure that public service does not necessarily decline,” he pointed out.

Inocêncio Impissa, who is also Minister of State Administration and Civil Service, explained that the ongoing “reflection […] on the sustainability of public institutes, funds, and foundations” is part of the restructuring of the state’s administrative machinery, so that “it can be resized to what is strictly necessary for the proper functioning of the institutions”.

“This is a reflection; a set of scenarios has been proposed. There is no definitive measure; however, it needs to be further investigated to determine which measures can actually be implemented. It is necessary to understand, for example, that not all public institutes and public funds are necessarily created to be financially sustainable,” Impissa emphasized.

“The National Institute of Social Action, which is also an entity that, for example, is not there to generate any resources, it is not there to generate finances, but it is there to assist an important segment of Mozambican society,” Minister Impissa exemplified.

Source: Lusa