IMF wants Mozambique to ‘prove life’ to all civil servants

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) wants the Mozambican government to conduct a “life test” for all civil servants by June this year as part of a program of technical and financial assistance to the country.

The information is contained in a recent report that concludes the IMF’s third assessment of the implementation of the Extended Credit Facility (ECF) program with Mozambique, which has a 36-month lifespan and which, despite its approval allowing new disbursements, identifies three goals “that were not met » Government and which were planned for 2023.

Among these measures that have not yet made progress are the parliamentary review of the Public Integrity Act, which was scheduled for June 2023 and now due to be completed by March next year, and the public availability of information on the beneficiaries of companies entering into agreements. contracts with the state planned for the end of December and postponed to September this year.

The third measure remaining to be completed in this assessment was the completion by September of “a general audit and ‘proof of life’ of all public sector employees”, the document said, citing operational difficulties as it was agreed that it would be completed by June next year.

On the other hand, the government of Mozambique, amid instability, managed to achieve five of the eight goals agreed with the IMF, or Structural Benchmark Indicators (SRI), by the end of the year.

In particular, a legal diploma was approved to determine reference prices for the extractive industry, audit reports on emergency expenses due to Covid-19 for 2020 and 2021 were published, the electronic tax system was extended to all tax administration services and presented to the Council . ministers plan to limit the wage bill.

Once this third assessment and the corresponding tranche are approved, the total disbursement to Mozambique under the IMF ECF will be approximately US$273 million (€249.2 million). This ECF program was approved in May 2022 and provides total funding to Mozambique of $456 million (€416.2 million).

The most recent data previously published by Lusa shows that Mozambique’s operating expenses increased by 9.4% in the first nine months of 2023, to 237,414 million meticais (€3,392 million), driven by rising wages.

According to the economic and social balance of government budget execution from January to September of the Ministry of Economy and Finance of Mozambique, this figure corresponds to 78.9% of all government operating expenditures planned for this year, estimated at almost $316,919 million. meticais (4.520 million euros).

The largest item is personnel costs, which up to the end of September increased by 16.1% compared to the same period in 2022 and amounted to almost 146.365 million metises (2.091 million euros), representing 78.9% of the total amount budgeted for budget for 12 months.

In particular, salaries and wages represent an increase of 17.9% in public expenditure in nine months compared to the same period in 2022, to 141,641 million meticais (2,024 million euros), equivalent to 80.4% of the budget for the entire year.

The application of the new civil service pay scale is strongly contested by various professional classes such as doctors and teachers, with record salary delays and cuts in the security forces being criticized by various segments of the Mozambican government apparatus.

Approved in 2022 with the aim of eliminating asymmetries and maintaining government control over the wage bill in the medium term, its launch resulted in wage growth of approximately 36% at a cost of 11.6 billion metis per month (€169 million per month). up to 15.8 billion metits/month (231 million euros/month).