Mozambique: Manager at Beira port concerned about fuel crisis in the country
File photo: O País
The price of diesel increased by around 26 meticais between January and July this year. In the same period, passenger transport fares in Maputo City remained unchanged.
On the 2nd of January, the new transport tariff came into force in Maputo city. For distances of less than 10 kilometres, the price rose to 12 meticais and, for longer distances, to 15 meticais. Since then, the price of transport in the country’s capital has not changed.
However, during the same period, from January to June of this year, fuel prices went up three times: in March, May and on Saturday, July 2nd.
Looking at the details, diesel which in January was sold at 61.71 meticais per litre, got a 9.26 meticais hike in March, to 70.97 meticais. In May, the price of diesel increased again, this time by eight meticais, to 78.97 meticais. Two months later on July 2nd, the price went up again, this time by nine meticais, to 87.97 per litre.
These three hikes mean that, from January to July of this year, the price of diesel, the fuel most commonly used for passenger transport in Maputo, went up 26 meticais, although bus fares remained the same since the beginning of this year.
The increases didn’t just happen in diesel. A litre of gasoline, sold in January for 69.04 meticais, currently costs 86.97 meticais, an increase in price of 17.93 meticais per litre.
In turn, vehicular gas, which cost 32.69 meticais in January, now costs 43.73 meticais, an increase of 11 meticais.
There is more. The 11-kilogram bottle of cooking gas, which used to retail for around 780 meticais per bottle, currently costs 1,122.22 meticais, an increase of 341 meticais.
All these expenses weigh heavily on household and business accounts.
By Clemencio Fijamo
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