Maputo — Mozambique's National Social Security Institute (INSS) doubled, from 2020 to the first half of 2024, its investment portfolio, from 34 billion to around 72 billion Meticais (from 532.1 million dollars to 1.1 billion dollars at the current exchange rate).

According to the former deputy minister of labour, Rolinho Farnela, cited in the INSS website, during the same period, investment income exceeded the projections.

"We are continuing to guide the INSS towards safe and profitable investments as a way of guaranteeing the system's sustainability in the medium and long term', he said.

He also explained that this performance was the result of a change in approach in the INSS investment strategy, with a greater emphasis on investments in public debt securities, which have the highest return compared to term deposits.

The INSS investment portfolio is made up of five assets, namely term deposits, bonds and treasury bills, financial holdings (shares) and property development.

Farnela also said that, during the same period, over seven billion meticais of debt to the INSS was collected.

"Debt recovery meant an increase of 136 per cent in relation to the debt collected in the previous five-year period, and this success was largely due to liaison with the social partners (i.e. the trade unions and the employers' associations, and with the bodies of the administration of justice', he said.

Farnela explained that 67,000 taxpayers and 457,900 beneficiaries were expected to be enrolled in the current five-year period. However, 61,800 taxpayers and 406,900 beneficiaries have already been enrolled, corresponding to realizations of 92.3 per cent and 88.9 per cent of the targets.