Maputo, May 5, 2026 (Lusa) – The volume of foreign exchange transactions between banks and customers in Mozambique remained at nearly €3 billion in the first quarter, consistent with the same period over the last five years, the Finance Minister said on Tuesday.
While explaining measures to address the foreign currency shortage in the market to parliament, Carla Loveira said that Mozambique has implemented monetary and fiscal policy measures since last year to address the issue.
"These measures allowed the volume of foreign exchange transactions between banks and the public (exporters and importers) to remain at approximately $3.5 billion [€2.995 billion] in the first quarter of 2026," she said, noting this figure aligns with the average for the same period over the last five years, which stood around $3.3 billion [€2.823 billion].
She acknowledged a challenging environment due to foreign currency scarcity, stressing the need to increase the production and export of goods and services to secure the foreign currency needed to pay for imports.
The government also pointed to several factors causing the shortage, including the impact of the 2024 post-election protests and changes in the international financial architecture. Resources increasingly flow toward public-private partnership investments rather than general State Budget support.
"Together, these reasons contribute to the challenging framework of foreign currency availability in Mozambique," Loveira stated. "Despite these challenges, the government is implementing measures to reverse the shortage and increase the flexibility of its flow into the market."
She said that measures to halt the scarcity include monetary policies, such as reducing the foreign currency reserve requirement ratio by 10 percentage points, from 39.5% to 29.5%.
Last year, Mozambique approved an increase in the minimum conversion rate for export revenues from goods, services, and foreign investment income, raising it from 30% to 50%.
Since 2025, the country mandates the repatriation and conversion into national currency of all revenues from the re-export of petroleum products.
Regarding fiscal policy measures, the government coordinates with the national financial system to ensure the availability of foreign currency. This ensures the payment of invoices and the issuance of bank guarantees for fuel, food products, and medicines as priority items, before addressing other external payment needs, she said.
Loveira said that the government would intensify international cooperation efforts to increase the execution level of external resource disbursements for the State Budget.
When questioned by MPs regarding the controversy over former presidents' perks, she said that the recent approval of a new decree did not result in a salary increase. "These are the same amounts that have been paid based on the remuneration of the sitting president. However, there was a need to regulate the remuneration of former presidents within the scope of the Single Salary Table (TSU) law," she said.
The issue concerns a cabinet meeting decree, in effect since 27 March, which regulates existing practices regarding the "duties and rights of the president after ceasing functions".
The decree defines that each former president is entitled to 30 days of state-funded holidays, an office, a pension, a salary, and eight vehicles, among other benefits.
PME/RYOL // ADB.
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