Maputo, May 7, 2025 (Lusa) - According to the government's forecast in this year's budget proposal, the two Mozambican public companies' tax exposure in the aviation sector amounts to 1.2% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), which signals concern about the situation.
"State-owned enterprises (SOE) have faced financial challenges, particularly Aeroportos de Moçambique (ADM) and Linhas Aéreas de Moçambique (LAM), reflecting their failure to meet their financial obligations," warned the draft Economic and Social Plan and State Budget (PESOE) 2025, to be debated this week in parliament, that Lusa saw on Wednesday.
According to the proposal, "the tax exposure associated with the two companies is estimated at around 1.2% of GDP" for this year, referring to LAM, the flag carrier, and ADM, which manages the national airports.
The budget proposal, the first prepared by the government led by Daniel Chapo, who was sworn in as Mozambique's fifth president last January, points out, in the country's "macroeconomic stability" programme, the need to "reform the state business sector".
According to the document, Mozambique has 11 public companies, seven exclusively state-owned companies and nine with minority shareholdings in liquidation.
The president of Mozambique said on 28 April that there are "foxes and corrupt people" within LAM, with "conflicts of interest" preventing the company from being restructured in 100 days.
When presenting the results for the first 100 days of his government, the head of state denounced people "with conflicts of interest" within the company, whose aim is to prevent LAM from "having its own aircraft".
"One of the impactful actions we had planned for these 100 days was acquiring three aircraft for LAM. However, when we decided to have at least three aircraft available before 100 days, we discovered that within LAM we were putting foxes to guard a henhouse, or cats to guard mice," said the president of Mozambique.
He stated that it is in the interests of these people that the company "continues to lease aircraft because they earn commissions from aircraft leasing" and that the government, which decided to restructure LAM, had to "reorient the process, since it is important to look after the interests of the people and not the interests of individuals or groups".
On 5 February, the government authorised the sale of 91% of the state's stake in LAM to state-owned companies, indicating that the proceeds would be used to purchase eight aircraft, as part of measures to restructure the company within the first 100 days of government.
The resolution approved by the Mozambican government determined that only three state-owned companies - Hidroelétrica de Cahora Bassa (HCB), Caminhos de Ferro de Moçambique (CFM) and Empresa Moçambicana de Seguros (Emose) - could acquire the state's stake in LAM.
The president promised a comprehensive restructuring of LAM, including human resources, and a new phase for the flag carrier.
Daniel Chapo stated that in the context of the process relating to the acquisition of the three aircraft, "people left Mozambique with money from the new shareholders and spent 15 days in Europe inspecting aircraft, only to return to Mozambique and say that they had not been able to inspect a single aircraft, which makes no sense and is illogical".
"When we discovered a den of corrupt individuals within our company (...), we decided to cancel the tender, restructure the company and clean it up with competent people who want to work for the Mozambican people," he concluded.
LAM has been facing operational problems for several years related to a reduced fleet and lack of investment. A number of non-fatal incidents have been reported, which experts have linked to poor aircraft maintenance.
PVJ/ADB // ADB.
Lusa
