Mozambique: Over 3,600 displaced from two districts in four days - IOM
Noticias
The turn of the year was celebrated, as always, with great euphoria in the Mozambican capital – but also under severe cost constraint in view of the economic and financial uncertainty of the year ahead.
Citizens polled by AIM were succint in their statements, predicting that the economic and financial crisis besetting the country would peak, but that economies should remain in place until there was some sign of improvement.
“Another year has passed. We are certainly euphoric at this moment. It is also certain that the country is not going through a good time in economic and financial terms. We believe that things will improve. But we should try to save as much as we can until we see light at the end of the tunnel,” 67-year-old Fernando Gomes says.
Gomes considers the current austerity an opportunity for families to learn to use meager resources rationally, unlike in the past.
“In practical terms, we had been squandering money on unnecessary things. I hope we learn to save what little we have, which can only help after we get over this crisis,” he says.
Fatima Castro said that the savings she has been making have enabled her to buy school supplies, including uniforms, for her three children, two of whom are entering primary education, and that she would be able to afford necessary supplies for the family’s livelihoods until the end of the first quarter of the year.
“The children will start classes on the 20th [January] and they need to have the right things. The savings I’ve made allow me to buy school uniform for all three, plus notebooks, briefcases, and other things. The same savings will buy food for the first quarter, but only if food prices do not rise as much as recently,” she says.
Other citizens took the opportunity to express their desire to see peace consolidated in the country, as they believe it to be a key part of overcoming any dispute.
“Without peace, we can do nothing. We need peace so that we can continue to develop our normal activities and grow the country’s economy and our own development. I believe that there will be peace this year, because there are clear signs,” Mateus Zucula said.
He was referring to the roughly week-long suspension of military hostilities which has just been extended for six more days.
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