The Bank of Mozambique has extended by a further six months the exceptional regime requiring exporters to convert half of their foreign-currency earnings into meticais, a measure aimed at increasing the availability of foreign currency in the financial system.
The decision is set out in Notice No. 7/GBM/2026, in which the central bank extends the validity of the regime established by the previous notice. The regime was initially approved in April 2025 for a transitional period of 18 months and has now been extended by six months, effective from 9 October.
In April 2025, the central bank increased from 30% to 50% the proportion of export earnings from goods, services and investment income abroad that exporters are required to convert into the national currency. The measure was justified by the need to establish an “exceptional and transitional foreign-exchange mechanism aimed at minimising the effects of the current socio-economic situation”.
In practice, an exporter receiving revenue in foreign currency may retain part of those funds in foreign currency but is required to sell half of the amount received to the Mozambican banking system, receiving the equivalent value in meticais.
The aim is to increase the supply of foreign currency available on the domestic foreign-exchange market, facilitating access to foreign currency for companies and economic operators that need it for imports and other international transactions.
The measure represented a temporary tightening of the regime previously in force, established under Notice No. 5/GBM/2024, which set the mandatory conversion rate at 30% of export earnings.
The Bank of Mozambique does not provide a detailed justification for the extension in the new notice, referring only to the “need to extend this period”.
The Mozambican government has acknowledged that the “shortage” of foreign currency affected economic performance in the first half of the year, particularly revenue collection. The Ministry of Finance’s budget execution report states that performance fell short of expectations due to various domestic and external constraints, including difficulties in accessing foreign currency.
“This performance was negatively affected” by the “failure to make payments for offshore services provided by non-resident entities due to the shortage of foreign currency”, the report states.
The government’s assessment of the foreign-currency shortage contrasts with the position of central bank governor Felisberto Navalha, who rejected claims of a widespread shortage of foreign currency in September.
By August, Navalha said, the banking system had “managed to purchase significant volumes” of foreign currency on the market from exporters and other economic operators, totalling US$5.73 billion (€4.928 billion), an increase of US$724 million (€623 million) compared with the same period last year.
Over the same period, banks’ foreign-currency sales to customers increased by US$593 million (€510 million), reaching a total of US$5.65 billion (€4.86 billion).
For the governor, these figures show that assessments of alleged foreign-currency deficits should be made “with caution”. He also said the central bank had recently held meetings with banking institutions to identify any bottlenecks in the foreign-exchange system.
Felisberto Navalha nevertheless acknowledged isolated cases of insufficient foreign currency at some financial institutions: “It may be the case at one institution, but not across the market as a whole.”
Various business sectors have been warning of growing difficulties in accessing foreign currency for imports, international payments and transfers abroad.
Álvaro Massingue, the president of the Confederation of Economic Associations of Mozambique (CTA), the main representative organisation for the country’s private sector, has previously described the situation as an “economic emergency”.
Source: Lusa