The audit by Mozambique’s Administrative Court (TA) on the 2024 State General Account (CGE), currently under parliamentary review, highlights “discrepancies” in financial statements leading to a lack of credibility and consistency in financial information regarding budget execution.
The TA’s opinion, utilized by opposition parties today in parliament to call for the CGE’s rejection, states that this situation created “embarrassment” in the account analysis, leading it to be reviewed with “reservations.”
In its report, the TA criticizes the CGE for not using the electronic public finance management system, noting that the financial statements are still prepared outside of this system, which undermines the “reliability, traceability, and integrity of financial information,” potentially leading to data manipulation and contradicting transparency principles in public accounts.
The audit also found that the CGE lacks information regarding the allocation of 20% of revenues from Forestry and Wildlife Exploitation Taxes to local communities and noted challenges in meeting revenue collection targets by the Central Administration, Provincial entities, and State assets liquidation.
The document also identified “weak coordination” between monitoring and oversight institutions in the mining and petroleum sectors, contributing to companies operating outside the tax system, resulting in revenue losses.
Out of 60 state-participated companies, at least 12 distributed dividends in 2024. The document also reports that the public debt that year reached just over 1.043 trillion meticais (14 billion euros), a 7% increase from the previous year, when the debt was just over 971 billion meticais (13.1 billion euros).
In 2024, according to the TA’s opinion, the State spent a total of 571.3 billion meticais (7.710 billion euros), after securing resources of 521.6 billion meticais (7.039 billion euros), while the previously forecasted budget proposal anticipated 567.8 billion meticais (7.664 billion euros) from donations, internal and external debt, and state revenues.
Revenue collection in 2024 amounted to 351.2 billion meticais (4.741 billion euros), representing 91.3% of the proposed budget according to the TA.
In the referenced fiscal year, megaprojects contributed just over 37.7 billion meticais (509 million euros), accounting for 11.8% of collected revenues, with the TA’s report stating that 57% of this came from the energy sector, followed by oil and gas exploration with 11%, coal exploration with 7%, and other sectors with 6.8%.
The discussion on the 2024 CGE continues Thursday in parliament, with guaranteed votes from the majority Mozambique Liberation Front (Frelimo, in power), despite the announced rejection by three opposition parties.
