Beira, Mozambique, Oct. 1, 2026 (Lusa) - The floods that affected Mozambique during the last rainy season caused damage equivalent to around 2% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), necessitating the mobilisation of resources, the Finance Minister said on Thursday.
«The floods that affected our country in December 2025 and January 2026 were among the most severe of the last decade,» said Minister Carla Loveira at the opening of the Second Coordinating Council of the Ministry of Finance, as she outlined the main challenges facing public finances this year.
«They caused more than 100 deaths, affected around 724,000 people, with 691,000 people directly affected and thousands of homes destroyed; and, according to the assessment of the rainy season, more than 1.078 million Mozambicans were affected, putting pressure on public finances, with an impact of around 2% of GDP,» she added.
According to Carla Loveira, extreme weather events continue to pose a significant threat to the country's economic and social development and require additional resources for response and recovery.
«The provinces of Gaza and Maputo experienced the most significant impact, with schools destroyed, roads cut off and more than 700,000 farmers whose livelihoods were affected. This phenomenon imposes a new normal upon us: every weather event is a fiscal shock, requiring reconstruction, social protection and budgetary resilience,» she emphasised.
This reality, she said, compels everyone, particularly the finance sector, «to embrace a culture of proactive prevention».
«It means incorporating climate risk into budget preparation, protecting essential allocations, creating rapid-response mechanisms and assessing public projects based on their ability to withstand shocks. ‘Building back better' must translate into safer schools, more resilient roads, functional drainage systems and social protection mechanisms capable of reaching families before vulnerability turns into permanent poverty,» she argued.
According to the minister, the floods' impact on public finances has also prompted the government to adjust priorities and step up the mobilisation of domestic resources. In this context, the revision of the 2026 Economic and Social Plan and State Budget (PESOE) raised the forecast for domestic resources by 3.6 billion meticais (€49 million), rising from 442.9 billion meticais (€6 billion) to 446.5 billion meticais (€6.1 billion).
The increase comes from additional revenue from liquefied natural gas projects in the Rovuma Basin, she added, noting that boosting domestic revenue is particularly important as the country faces rising pressure on public expenditure linked to infrastructure reconstruction and strengthening climate resilience.
Carla Loveira also argued that revenue from natural resources should be used strategically to support investments that increase the economy's resilience to climate shocks and reduce structural vulnerabilities.
«We must ensure that the country's strategic resources contribute to the structural transformation of the economy and to the well-being of current and future generations,» she said.
The minister noted that the increasing frequency of extreme weather events underscores the need to reconcile development policies with measures to adapt to climate change, particularly in a country that regularly experiences floods, tropical cyclones and droughts.
According to the data presented, climate impacts are one of the main risks to economic performance and the implementation of public policies, necessitating recurring resource allocations to support affected populations and rebuild damaged infrastructure.
The minister said the increasing frequency of extreme events requires greater integration between economic, budgetary and climate adaptation policies to reduce future costs to public finances.
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