The government said on Tuesday that the country's downgrade was due to the pressure caused by the state's salary reform, which has since been corrected, while maintaining the conditions to service its debt.

"The recent assessment of the country's rating was based on a retrospective picture, especially in the first few months of the year, a period in which the impact of the wage reform was very high," said the Minister of Economy and Finance, Max Tonela, at a press conference in Maputo, quoted by Lusa.

He expects that "from July onwards, the accounts will be back on track, according to the projections established", noting that the government's ability to comply is solid, due to the corrections made to the flaws detected in the Single Wage Table (TSU).

Last week, the financial rating agency S&P downgraded the local currency debt issues to `default' for 24 hours to reflect the delays in payments that occurred between February and May.

The agency then downgraded the rating to below what it was before the temporary default.

"For this year, we have, from the point of view of repayment of capital and interest," with internal and external debt, resources valued at 1.5 billion dollars and, "at the moment, 764 million dollars have already been paid by the state," added the minister.

The financial envelope already disbursed for debt service corresponds to 48% of projected charges for this year under this heading, emphasized Max Tonela.

"The government already has the conditions to continue fulfilling" its obligations to domestic and foreign creditors, he reaffirmed.\

In addition to corrective measures in the wage reform, he continued, the executive is also betting on diversifying the sources of financing expenditure.

On the occasion, the minister stressed that the country's economy has been on a growth trajectory since last year, with Gross Domestic Product (GDP) expected to reach 5% this year, after 4.1% in 2022.