Flags, Symbols, & Currencies of Mozambique

The Mozambique flag was officially adopted in May 1983. The flag is a horizontal tricolor of three stripes: green (top), black (middle), and yellow (bottom). These stripes are separated by thin white stripes. A red isosceles triangle is placed on the hoist side of the flag, which contains a yellow colored five-pointed star. This star features an AK-47 rifle with a bayonet crossed with a hoe, which are set on the image of an open book. The national flag has a height to length proportion of 2:3.

The colors and symbols featured on Mozambique’s flag have significant meaning. The green color represents Mozambique’s natural wealth, white symbolizes peace, while black signifies the continent of Africa. The yellow and red colors in the triangle symbolize the mineral wealth and independence struggle of the country, respectively. The star is a symbol of internationalism and Marxism, while the book represents the importance of education. The rifle is a symbol of defense and vigilance, and the hoe signifies the importance of agriculture in Mozambique.

History of Mozambique's Flag

The design of Mozambique current flag is based on a flag used by the Mozambican Liberation Front (FRELIMO), one of the country’s leading political parties. The FRELIMO flag was similar in appearance, but lacked the emblem featured in Mozambique's current national flag. This flag was used briefly after the country gained independence from Portugal. Another flag was later introduced, which had diagonals of four different colors (yellow, black, red, and green) emanating from the upper corner of the flag’s hoist side. The star, book, hoe, and rifle were present inside a white cogwheel that appeared towards the upper hoist-side corner of the flag. In 1983, another design change occurred, which included horizontal stripes and an enlarged star. The white cogwheel has been removed in the design of Mozambique’s current national flag.

National Anthem

• Anthem Title: Pátria Amada (Beloved Homeland)
• Music composer and Lyricist: Salomão J. Manhiça
• Date of Adoption: 2002

Pátria Amada (Beloved Homeland) is Mozambique's national anthem. It was adopted on April 30, 2002, to replace the old anthem "Viva, Viva a FRELIMO" adopted at independence. Although nine people took part in creating the song, Salomão J. Manhiça is credited with the lyrics and melody. The anthem has three verses and a chorus. However, only the first verse and the chorus (sung twice) are often performed. 

Symbolized as MZN or MT, the Mozambican Metical is the currency used Mozambique. The name of the currency comes from an Arabic word called mithqal. It was used to refer to the gold dinar coin that was widely used across many nations in Africa before the 19^th Century. The meticais are issued by the Banco de Moçambique which is the Central Bank.

Coins

The coinage period of the Mozambican metical occurred in two phases. The first set of meticais were minted in 1980 in denominations of 50 centavos, 1, 2 1/2, 5, 10, and 20 meticais. Aluminum was used to produce the 50 centavos as well as 2 ½ and 5 meticai. On the other hand, brass was used to mint the 1 MZM and the metal used to mint the 10 and 20 MZM was nickel. Six years later, aluminium-made 1, 10, 20, and 50 meticais were introduced. Another revolution in the coinage came in 1994 where the 1, 5, 10, 20, and 50 MZM coins were made of brass and steel whereas the 100, 500, and 1,000 MZM coins were struck using nickel. In 1998 and 2003, the 5,000 and 10,000 MZM coins were minted respectively. The second phase of the coinage period began in July 2016. This phase involved the issuance and circulation of the second meticais in denominations of 1, 5, 10, 20, and 50 centavos and 1, 2, 5, and 10 MZN. Currently, the coins used in Mozambique are in denominations of 1, 2, 5, and 10 meticais, as well as 50 centavos.

Bank Notes

Similar to the issuing of the coins, the bank notes were also printed in two phases: the first and second phase. The first phase was further broken down into three stages. The first stage took place on June 16th, 1980 where notes were first introduced in Mozambique in denominations of 50, 100, 500 and 1,000 meticais. The second stage was three years later when the same notes and denominations were issued for public use. The only difference in these notes was the new state logo imprinted on them. During this stage, in the year 1989, the 5,000 meticais were introduced. The third stage involved the printing of notes in denominations of 500, 1,000-, 5,000-, 10,000-, 20,000-, 50,000-, 100,000-, 200,000-, and 500,000 meticais which took place between 1991 and 2003. During the second phase of issuing bank notes in 2011, Banco de Mozambique issued a new set of notes with enhanced security features making it difficult to have counterfeits in circulation. The notes issued in 2011 are the ones currently used in Mozambique and include the 20, 50, 100, 200, 500, and 1,000 meticais.

Exchange rate of Mozambican metical against the US dollar

As of July 6, 2017 the exchange rate between the Mozambican metical versus the US dollar was 1 dollar being equal to 60,265.01 meticais.

History of Currencies of Mozambique

The history pertaining to the Mozambican Metical exists in two phases. The first phase begins in 1980 where the escudo, which was previously the means of exchange in Mozambique, was replaced by the first metical abbreviated as MZM. The first phase came to an end in 2005, owing to serious inflation that affected its value. On July 1st 2006, Mozambique revalued the metical at a rate of 1000:1 which was the beginning of the second phase of the metical’s history. The government adopted a new code, MZN, and issued new notes and coins through the Bank of Mozambique.