Mozambique: Wage Costs in Public Administration Fall 3.9 Percent

What the report says

Mozambique’s public administration wage and remuneration costs fell 3.9% in the first half of the year, to 107.2 billion meticais, according to budget execution data cited by Agencia de Informacao de Mocambique and distributed by AllAfrica. The report said the spending covers a public-sector workforce of more than 350,000 people and comes as the government seeks to restrain the payroll, which remains the largest part of recurrent state spending.

The Ministry of Finance figures show personnel expenditure reached 109.8 billion meticais in the period, or 51.2% of the year’s allocation. Salaries and other remuneration made up the bulk of that total. The article said this was lower than the first half of 2025, after the state had recorded higher payroll spending in the prior year and exceeded its budgeted figure for 2025.

The report placed the decline in the context of wider fiscal pressure. It said the International Monetary Fund has urged Mozambique to curb public-sector spending and pursue reforms to support public finances. The World Bank has also warned in past analysis that the payroll has risen largely because of higher pay rather than a bigger workforce.

The government’s medium-term fiscal plan, approved by the Council of Ministers, aims to gradually reduce the wage bill as a share of GDP in coming years through tighter recruitment, audits, retirement processing and reviews of allowances. The issue remains politically sensitive because of the single salary table introduced in 2022, which was designed to reduce pay disparities but has faced opposition in several sectors.