Maria Benvinda Levy
Maria Benvinda Levy (born 24 March 1969 in Maxixe) is a Mozambican lawyer and politician. She has been Mozambique’s 16th prime minister since 15 January 2025, after being appointed by President Daniel Chapo. Before becoming prime minister, she served as Minister of Justice from 2008 to 2015. She has also worked as a judge in Maputo and led the Legal and Judicial Training Centre, the main training center for jurists in Mozambique. Levy later served as an adviser to President Filipe Nyusi.
Levy is the second woman to become prime minister and leads a 12‑member cabinet. She has publicly linked the 2024–2025 Mozambican protests to a 4.87% drop in economic growth in the fourth quarter of 2024.
She attended the papal inauguration of Pope Leo XIV. In 2025 she spoke about development after the United States said it would suspend $400 million in aid to Mozambique. She noted the aid had not been formally cancelled yet, with an 85‑day deadline, and warned that losing foreign aid could hurt health programs, since about $250 million of the aid goes to Mozambique’s HIV/AIDS programs.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 07:03 (CET).