Term deposits fall to a nine-month low of MT 294.9bn in July 2026 as the rate hits 3.81%

July 31, 2026

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Savers are paid less every month to wait, and banks now need each metical deposit more than the rate they pay suggests.

Term deposits in Mozambique’s banks slipped MT 1.0 billion to MT 294.9 billion in July 2026, the lowest reading since October 2025, while the average one-year deposit rate fell to 3.81%. Total deposits eased MT 5.8 billion, or 0.7%, to MT 805.6 billion as demand balances gave up MT 4.8 billion.

The data are in Banco de Moçambique’s July statistical bulletin. The price of waiting is now so low that the useful question for a treasurer is what each deposit is worth to the bank, and the answer is higher than the 3.81% suggests.

The price of patience, twelve months on

The one-year deposit rate lost 2.43 points since July 2025, while the loan rate lost 1.77.

The August monthly summary shows the average one-year deposit rate at 6.24% in July 2025 and 3.81% in July 2026. The one-year lending rate over the same period went from 23.04% to 21.27%. A spread of 16.8 points has become 17.5 points, so the cheaper money banks are collecting has not been passed on to borrowers.

Savers have noticed. Since August 2025 demand deposits have grown 9.2%, to MT 510.3 billion, and term deposits only 1.6%, to MT 294.9 billion, while the January peak of MT 304.7 billion has shrunk by 3.2%. Demand money now holds 63.4% of the stock.

Reserves have settled at the minimum

The cash banks hold at the central bank now matches what the 39% rule would require.

Banks’ reserves at Banco de Moçambique slipped 0.4% in July to MT 301.7 billion, a second monthly fall after the May surge, the Club of Mozambique reported. The bulletin puts metical deposits at roughly MT 644.4 billion and dollar deposits at MT 161.1 billion.

An indicative calculation using the 39% coefficient on metical deposits and the 29.5% coefficient on dollar deposits gives about MT 299 billion of required reserves. That is within MT 3 billion of the actual balance. The regulator’s base is wider than deposits, so treat the figure as a guide, but it says the surplus cash the May rule was meant to remove has been absorbed.

What a metical deposit is now worth to a bank

Paying 3.81% on money that is only 61% usable costs about 6.2% on the portion a bank can lend.

Of every MT 100 deposited in meticais, MT 39 must be placed as reserve and MT 61 is free to lend or invest. A bank that pays 3.81% on the whole MT 100 spends MT 3.81 to put MT 61 to work, which works out at 6.2% on the usable money. That is the cost the bank should compare with its lending rate, and it is higher than the rate on the account statement.

With credit to the economy at MT 282.4 billion, or 35.1% of deposits, banks are not short of funds to lend. The point is about marginal money. A large new deposit costs more to employ than it did before May, and a bank that wants to grow lending will find that its best source is the corporate customer who holds a big balance.

Dollars: the first year-on-year fall

Dollar balances dropped 1.4% to US$2.52 billion, below the level of July 2025.

Foreign-currency deposits were US$2.52 billion, MT 161.1 billion, under the US$2.54 billion of a year earlier. Within the stock, dollar demand deposits fell MT 6.5 billion to MT 77.5 billion and dollar term deposits rose MT 4.3 billion to MT 83.7 billion, so dollar holders moved toward term money as metical holders moved away from it.

The financial system summary for July, published on 17 September, carries these monetary accounts as a spreadsheet series for readers who want the longer history behind the monthly numbers.

Ask for a rate that reflects the reserve cost

A bid of 5% on a large twelve-month balance fits inside the bank’s economics.

A company with a large balance should ask its bank for a written quote on a twelve-month term, and put the bank’s usable-funds cost of about 6.2% on the table. A quote of 5% still leaves the bank room to lend at a profit, and it beats the 3.81% average by more than a point.

Companies that hold dollars should ask for the term rate in dollars too. Dollar term money was the only deposit category that rose in July besides metical demand balances, and a bank that needs funding in that currency will compete for it.