Mozambique has collected more than US$5.4 billion in tax revenue since the start of the year, reflecting a sharp improvement in fiscal mobilisation as authorities intensify reforms aimed at broadening the tax base and strengthening compliance.
The Mozambique Tax Authority said total collections since January exceeded 350 billion meticais, with its president, Aníbal Mbalango, attributing the performance to a combination of institutional reforms, staff commitment, and measures designed to make tax compliance easier for citizens and businesses.
“These results reflect not only numbers, but the sacrifice, resilience and professionalism of our teams who, even in the face of challenges, remained focused on delivering results,” Mbalango said in Maputo. He was speaking at the launch of a book documenting the historical and statistical evolution of taxation in Mozambique from 1975 to 2024.
According to Mbalango, the gains were driven by more targeted enforcement actions, particularly stronger tax audits and tighter controls over value-added tax (VAT) refunds, which have long been a pressure point for public finances. At the same time, he said the authority has sought to balance enforcement with taxpayer-friendly measures that improve convenience and encourage voluntary compliance.
A key pillar of the strategy has been the expansion of the tax net. Since the beginning of the year, the tax authority has issued 406,343 new Tax Identification Numbers (NUITs), including 388,018 for individuals and 18,325 for businesses. This brings the cumulative total of registered taxpayers in the country to more than seven million.
Mbalango said the expansion reflects Mozambique’s accelerating push to digitise tax administration, a process that authorities plan to deepen further next year. Digital tools are expected to simplify procedures, reduce leakages, and improve transparency across the system.
The strong revenue performance comes as the government seeks to recover an estimated $1.45 billion in lost tax revenue, identified under Mozambique’s Economic Recovery and Growth Plan. Approved by the cabinet, the plan sets policy priorities through 2029 and places a strong emphasis on improving fiscal efficiency and domestic resource mobilisation.
Under the strategy, authorities aim to implement short- and medium-term administrative reforms to mobilise additional budget resources, while rolling out digital tax payment systems as part of broader efforts to modernise public finance management.
“The tax authority has been making efforts to modernise and digitise the country’s tax system, with the aim of improving revenue collection, increasing transparency, simplifying processes for taxpayers and combating tax evasion,” the government said in the plan.
Together, the latest revenue figures and ongoing reforms underscore Mozambique’s efforts to strengthen fiscal resilience at a time of continued economic pressures, while reducing dependence on external financing and creating a more efficient and inclusive tax system.
Background to Mozambique’s tax system
Mozambique’s tax system has undergone gradual reform since the end of the civil war in the early 1990s, evolving from a narrow, trade-dependent revenue structure into a more diversified framework centred on domestic taxation. The system is administered by the Mozambique Tax Authority (Autoridade Tributária de Moçambique – AT), which was created in 2006 to unify customs and domestic tax collection under a single institution and improve efficiency, compliance, and transparency.
Historically, Mozambique has struggled with a narrow tax base, high informality, and weak enforcement capacity. A large share of economic activity—particularly in agriculture, retail trade, and small services—operates outside the formal tax net. As a result, tax revenue as a share of GDP has remained relatively low compared with regional peers, leaving the state heavily dependent on donor funding and external borrowing to finance public spending.
Over the past decade, the authorities have sought to strengthen revenue mobilisation through administrative reforms rather than new taxes, focusing on better compliance, audits, and system modernisation. Key pillars of this strategy include the expansion of the Tax Identification Number (NUIT) system, tighter monitoring of Value Added Tax (VAT), and the gradual digitisation of filing and payment processes to reduce leakages and human discretion.
The extractive sector—particularly coal and natural gas—has also reshaped Mozambique’s fiscal landscape, although revenues have been volatile and slower to materialise than initially expected. While mega-projects promise long-term gains, the government has increasingly prioritised domestic revenue mobilisation to reduce fiscal vulnerability, especially following the 2016 hidden-debt crisis, which sharply curtailed budget support from international partners.
Current reforms are anchored in the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (2024–2029), which identifies tax efficiency and base broadening as central to restoring fiscal sustainability. The plan emphasises digitisation, improved audits, reduction of tax evasion, and better coordination between tax and customs services, with the goal of recovering more than $1.45 billion in lost revenue over the medium term.
Against this backdrop, the recent rise in tax collection reflects not only cyclical improvements but also a longer-term effort to modernise Mozambique’s tax administration, strengthen state capacity, and reduce dependence on external financing.
