Mozambique: Transport operators threaten to go on strike

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Mozambique: Transport operators threaten to go on strike

6:35 CAT | 25 Apr 2022

File photo: Domingo

Mozambican passenger transport operators have threatened to pull their vehicles off the roads in the event of a further increase in the price of fuel, according to a report from the independent television station, STV.

The threat came in response to Thursday’s warning from the Mozambican Association of Fuel Companies (AMEPETROL) that, at the current price, the business of selling fuel is unsustainable, and thy might have to suspend further fuel imports.

The Mozambican Federation of Road Transport Associations (Fematro) on Friday declared that only the government can solve the problem. Unless the State intervened passenger transport would grind to a halt.

Fematro spokesperson, Alexande Gove, warned that “if the price of fuel rises again, and the State is unable to help, road transport will have to stop”.

The public should be prepared for difficult days ahead, he added. He made it clear this meant dealing with a situation in which buses and minibuses were no longer running.

In addition to the fuel price, operators also had to cope with increased prices for spare parts for their vehicles. Gove claimed that in recent years increases in fares had been swallowed up almost immediately by the price of fuel, thus suggesting that passenger transport is now a loss-making business.

The government has brushed aside the claim by AMEPETROL that there should be a 38 per cent rise in the price of diesel, and a 26 per cent rise for petrol. That would be 97.87 meticais (about 1.53 dollars at the current exchange rate) for a litre of diesel, rather then the current 70.97 meticais. Under this proposal the price of a litre of petrol would rise from 77.39 to 97.19 meticais.

The government has not any proposal for future price rises and has not said to what extent it is prepared to subsidise the fuel price.

Source: AIM