Crisis in Mozambique: Hard times in a Christmas without chicken

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Crisis in Mozambique: Hard times in a Christmas without chicken

11:29 CAT | 19 Dec 2016

A few days before Christmas, residents of the Mozambican province of Inhambane are asking traders to lower prices. Some stores have no chicken or wine, and people are looking for alternatives to traditional products.

In the supermarkets, shops and grocery stores of Inhambane, in southern Mozambique, you do not see many people shopping for the upcoming Christmas season. Residents in the region say that the political-military crisis, inflation and depreciation of the metical are jeopardizing Mozambican family celebrations this year.

The rise in the price of basic necessities is increasingly weighing on people’s pockets. So Robson José is asking shops to lower prices a little, especially those of basic necessities.

“It’s very difficult, the products have gone up a lot, which really hits people’s pockets,” he says.

Head of household Armindo Amaro told DW Africa that, in general, it will be difficult to spend the festive season with the family “in the atmosphere of peace, harmony and calm that we experienced in the past”.

“We are already looking for alternatives to traditional products Christmas Day. Because, above all, the party is not just about food,” he says.

No chicken, no wine

Félix Jaime, manager of the largest supermarket in Inhambane, says some shops have neither chicken nor wine, and the company that normally imports chickens from Brazil has warned traders that the situation is difficult because of metical depreciation.

“Suppliers cannot obtain chicken, and another problem is red wine,” Jaime says. “At the Maputo factory they say they do not have the bottles to fill. And with the rise of the dollar and the rand we cannot import chickens from Brazil.”