Mozambique: Businesses warn of losses due to Monday stoppages

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Mozambique: Businesses warn of losses due to Monday stoppages

8:15 CAT | 23 Oct 2024

Photo: O País

The Confederation of Economic Associations (CTA) of Mozambique, which brings together the private sector, warned of losses resulting from the stoppage of activities on Monday, estimating that it had caused direct losses of €203 million.

” On a preliminary basis, the stoppage of economic activity may have caused a loss of more than 1.4 billion meticais ( €203 million) without counting indirect damage,” said the president of the CTA, Agostino Vuma, with the damage being predominantly in the province and city of Maputo.

At a press conference in Maputo on the impacts of the stoppage of activities on October 21 and the marches called by presidential candidate Venâncio Mondlane, he said that they had affected the education, catering, tourism and transport sectors, with the greatest impact on the casual sector of the Mozambican economy.

“The private education network closed completely, the restaurant network mostly closed. In the offices, there were many workers absent for fear of physical harm (…) The Beluluane park, which is home to the country’s largest industrial center, operated with less than 50% of its companies,” said Agostinho Vuma.

In addition to the lack of public passenger transport, said the president of the CTA, travel agencies were also affected, having been forced to make changes to trips, postponing or bringing them forward.

“In the province and city of Maputo, which had the worst record, most of the people who didn’t show up for work gave the reason as lack of transportation and/or fear of safety,” he added.

Despite the stoppage and the occurrence of demonstrations in various parts of the country, Vuma said that there were no indications of “major damage” to production units, pointing out that some companies chose to remain closed that day.

Specifically in the provinces of Inhambane and Gaza, in the south of the country, the CTA said that on the day of the stoppage, “institutions opened and closed as normal”, highlighting the transportation sector as the one that suffered the most from the negative impact.

Vuma described the scenario in the center of the country as “calm”, with institutions and companies operating, a scenario also experienced in the north of the country,

The CTA warned of the “cost of living” in the face of the stoppages of activities that have been called for the end of this week, highlighting the impact on the cash flow and which could affect in some cases the ability to meet salary obligations to workers.

“The economic and social damage to the working class and their families is unquantifiable, at a time when the country is struggling with unemployment of over 18%, with young people being the worst affected,” said Vuma.

Venâncio Mondlane called for further stoppages, now for two days, and “peaceful” nationwide demonstrations in Mozambique from Thursday, the day the National Electoral Commission (CNE) plans to announce the results of the general elections.

“We’re going to sacrifice two days of our lives so that we can all demonstrate. And we don’t need to inform the police, the municipality,” announced Venâncio Mondlane.

The President of Mozambique, Filipe Nyusi, appealed today not to make “a tragedy, which was the barbaric murder of two compatriots” a “fuse to inflict more suffering on other compatriots”, in a speech in Maputo.

“Let’s not make a tragedy, which was the barbaric murder of two compatriots, repudiated by all Mozambicans, by the whole world, by the government, let’s not make this a fuse to inflict more suffering on other compatriots of ours, who may see their daily and incessant search for their livelihoods limited,” said the Mozambican head of state.

Source: Lusa