Selected Achievements
- Commercial Code: Supported by the SPEED+ and SPEED programs through technical assistance starting in 2018, this 2022 revised Commercial Code is expected to reduce legal/administrative costs of doing business, allows entrepreneurs to register a business using a residential address rather than a commercial space, legalizes the use of digital signatures, among other modern updates to the code.
- Electricity Law: Through SPEED+, USAID supported drafting of the electricity law. Passed in 2022, the law is expected to attract private investments in energy & reduce costs for consumers.
- Labor Law: Supported by SPEED+ and SPEED through technical assistance in the drafting and private sector consultation process, the 2023 draft law includes provisions for hiring foreign workers through employment agencies, expands the length of maternity leave, introduces a specific labor regime for the oil & gas sector, for micro-entrepreneurship and for “working from home”, simplifying some burdensome procedures for employers and employees.
- Visa Reforms: Since 2021, SPEED worked with the private sector to advocate for visa reforms to make it easier for businesses and employers to invest in Mozambique. Visas were a major policy reform priority discussed at the Private Sector Annual Conference (CASP XVII) in March 2022, informed by the SPEED high-level cost/time impact analysis. In late 2022, SPEED supported the GRM’s Priority Economic Measures Delivery Unit to advance key economic reforms. In 2022, the GRM introduced an e-visa system, and in 2023 announced visa exemptions for 24 for low immigration risk countries, including the US.
- Conservation Law: Since the law passed in 2017, SPEED+ and SPEED supported key partners to implement the law, especially to improve local institutional capacity to counter wildlife crime, and advance sustainable management of the country’s natural assets.
- Draft Law of Laws: Through SPEED+ and SPEED, USAID provided technical assistance in drafting the law and organized initial consultations on this critical law-making process that emphasizes public input across all of the country’s laws. The law promotes transparency and accountability to citizens and if passed in 2023 it is expected to advance the democratic process and improve investor confidence.