Portugal has announced a €500 million (US$583 million) credit line to support Portuguese companies investing in Mozambique, a move Lisbon says reflects renewed confidence in the southern African nation’s economic outlook.
Prime Minister Luís Montenegro made the announcement at the closing session of the sixth Portugal–Mozambique Economic Forum, held this week in the presence of Mozambican President Daniel Chapo, according to local media.
Montenegro said the financing package was designed to back Portuguese firms seeking to expand into Mozambique and to signal Lisbon’s commitment to strengthening economic ties. The credit line “expresses the government’s confidence in the Mozambican economy and our willingness to stand with Portuguese companies in their internationalisation efforts,” he said.
The two governments signed 22 cooperation agreements during the event, with a joint declaration pledging to place economic issues and sustainable development “at the top of the work agenda.” The document also commits both sides to improving coordination in order to optimise bilateral financing tools and promote business partnerships aimed at supporting Mozambique’s development and economic diversification.
At the forum’s opening, President Chapo urged Portuguese businesses to increase their presence in the country, calling Portugal a “strategic and privileged partner” and pointing to reforms intended to improve the investment climate. He said ongoing measures including a reduction of value-added tax to 16% and a 10% corporate income tax rate for agriculture were designed to reduce costs and shorten bureaucratic procedures.
“The reforms we are implementing are not abstract declarations. They are concrete measures with direct impact on investors’ wallets and time,” Chapo said. Mozambique, he added, was “opening its doors” and working to create a more predictable legal environment with faster approvals and a more competitive setting for foreign capital.
He identified agriculture, energy, tourism, the blue economy and digital transformation as priority sectors for new investment and praised Portuguese companies already operating in the country for maintaining their engagement during periods of economic instability.
Around 500 firms in Mozambique have Portuguese shareholding, and official data shows that Portuguese investors control a quarter of the country’s 100 largest companies. These include its two biggest banks — BCI, owned by Caixa Geral de Depósitos, and Millennium BIM, controlled by Portugal’s BCP — which together serve about 4.5 million clients.
Chapo closed his remarks with an appeal for deeper cooperation, saying: “I leave here a clear and unequivocal invitation to Portugal: let’s invest in Mozambique.”
More on Portugal-Mozambique investment relations
Portugal and Mozambique share deep historical, cultural and linguistic links as former colonial ruler and colony, which have evolved into robust economic relations focused on trade, investment and development cooperation. Portugal has been one of Mozambique’s principal European partners, with Portuguese companies playing a significant role in the Mozambican economy across sectors including banking, services, construction, tourism and agribusiness. Around 500 firms operating in Mozambique have Portuguese capital, and roughly a quarter of the country’s 100 largest companies under Mozambican law are Portuguese-owned, including two of the biggest banks BCI and Millennium BIM serving approximately 4.5 million clients combined.
Recent Portugal-Mozambique cooporation
Economic engagement received a boost at the sixth Portugal–Mozambique Bilateral Summit in Porto in December 2025, where leaders from both countries agreed to elevate economic and sustainable development issues to the top of their joint agenda and signed 22 cooperation agreements covering areas from finance and tourism to digital transformation and public administration reforms.
The summit also reaffirmed the aim of strengthening coordination mechanisms to better leverage bilateral financing tools and foster business partnerships that can drive growth and diversification in Mozambique’s economy
Trade between the two countries remains modest but positive for Portugal overall. Portuguese exports to Mozambique, led by pharmaceuticals, edged up slightly in 2024 to about €216 million, with Mozambican exports to Portugal at a lower level, around €26 million, reflecting an imbalance with Portugal’s trade surplu
