At a session addressing questions from lawmakers regarding the 2024 General State Account (CGE), Finance Minister Carla Loveira revealed that as of December 31, 2024, unpaid supplier debt stood at just over 30 billion meticais (407 million euros), marked as outstanding expenditure.
She noted that by the third quarter of this year, 17.295,3 million meticais (235.8 million euros) had been settled, leaving a remaining debt of 13.217,0 million meticais (179.5 million euros), currently being addressed according to the treasury plan.
“In addition to the aforementioned debts recognized in E-Sistafe [State Financial Administration System], there is potential for other sector-incurred debts without budgetary coverage. In these cases, the Government, through the Ministry of Finance, is devising a strategy to address these,” Carla Loveira stated in parliament.
To facilitate this, the Government will issue a circular to collect debt data from 2018 to 2025, validate the information through the General Finance Inspectorate, define the regularization terms, outline the implementation timeline, and determine which part of the debt will be settled using the Economic and Social Plan and State Budget (PESOE) for 2026 and 2027, with another portion being securitized.
“However, it’s imperative to consider that alongside the potential debt regularization process, strict measures will be introduced to prevent sectors from incurring expenses without budgetary authorization,” promised the Finance Minister.
On November 3, it was reported that the Mozambican Government intends to regularize 1.500 million meticais (20.2 million euros) in debts to Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) and exempt penalties for those unable to meet contributions due to post-election protests.
The Recovery and Economic Growth Plan (Prece), approved by the Government and recently released by the Ministry of Finance, includes a provision for “State debt payment to suppliers.”
An estimated 1.500 million meticais payment to SMEs supplying goods and services to the State is indicated in the document, which was reviewed at that time.
On October 29 in Maputo, the Finance Minister acknowledged “challenges linked to the State’s debts to goods and services suppliers,” assuring that the Government “remains committed to the gradual, responsible, and transparent settlement of these obligations, thus ensuring predictability and trust in relations with the private sector.”
