Mozambique: Government to pay 40% of 13th salary to state employees, pensioners by February

The Mozambican government approved on Tuesday the payment of 40% of the 2025 13th salary to public servants, state agents and pensioners, to be made in January and February, representing a reduction from the 50% paid a year earlier. The decision was taken at a meeting of the Council of Ministers, held in Maputo, and came “after a meticulous analysis of macro-financial data,” Mozambique’s Secretary of State for the Treasury, Amílcar Tivane, told journalists afterwards. He acknowledged the “reduction” compared with the payment made in February 2025, when 50% of the 2024 13th salary was paid.

Tivane explained that the first group of employees, classified in levels 1 to 11 of the Single Salary Table, which includes workers earning the minimum wage, primary and general secondary school teachers, health professionals and others at the base of the salary pyramid, will receive the 13th salary in January. The group of employees classified from level 12 onwards, including senior technicians and others, will receive the 13th salary in February, he added. Amílcar Tivane added that the 10 percentage point cut compared with the previous year is consistent with the economic growth projections set out by the government under the Economic and Social Plan and State Budget (PESOE) for 2026, which were revised downwards at the end of 2025.

Data presented on Tuesday by the Secretary of State for the Treasury, who is also the spokesperson for the Council of Ministers, indicate that in 2023 the government paid 30% of the 13th salary, increasing this to 50% in the following two years. He clarified that this year’s decision (relating to the 2025 payment) was taken after a “meticulous analysis” of macro-financial information and economic growth prospects. “The decision on the payment of the 13th salary cannot be seen without taking into account the economic performance of the previous year, but also growth prospects and the macro-fiscal framework for the following year,” Tivane added. The Secretary of State for the Treasury recalled that the payment of the 13th salary to public servants and state agents is a legally established right, but clarified that it is also legally conditional on the existence of budgetary capacity and the availability of financial resources for this purpose.