Nyusi advises caution in expenditure restraint

Login

Register

http://www.clubofmozambique.com/

Nyusi advises caution in expenditure restraint

2:53 CAT | 30 May 2016

Notícias / President Filipe Nyusi

Speaking this Saturday in Chifunde district at a press conference marking the end of his four-day working visit to the central province of Tete, President Nyusi advocated caution in selecting the sectors subject to austerity measures, otherwise the country might stop producing, and said there was a need to evaluate activities so as to identify those that should be subsidized and determine the extent of their support.

In the context the current national economic situation and the suspension of direct budget support by some aid partners, the president said in response to a question about the future of the seven million meticais funding awarded annually to the district: “We have containment measures, but we must be careful that containment does not compromise production.”

According to Nyusi, this fund, which aims to create more jobs and stimulate food production, has not yet been assigned.

“We have not discussed this fund as an issue yet. What we are doing now as a country is trying to finance our production activity,” Nyusi said.

While in Tete province, the president has toured the city and the districts of Marara, Magoe, Zumbo and Chifunde where he attended rallies, inaugurated and visited various economic undertakings and met tobacco farmers, fishermen and national liberation struggle veterans.

The main message he heard throughout was the call for peace in the centre of the country, often the scene of deadly Renamo attacks on civilians as well as defence force personnel.

“There is no child, adult or elderly person who does not cry out for peace. They also do not see how anyone can claim power by killing people. This is not right. On many occasions, we noted that there is dialogue, but still people continue to be killed,” Nyusi said, adding that “everything is being done to return life to normality in the country”.

In Chifunde, for example, a man called Banda encouraged President Nyusi to focus more on the development of the country, but to tell the leader of Renamo that the population is tired of war, if he should meet him.

Banda called on people to spread the message “No to war in Mozambique” across all communities.

“If anyone from the group that kills people and destroys property is here, please will you also take this message to your colleagues in the bush,” he urged.

Thousands of Mozambicans were forced to move to Malawi due to instability caused by Renamo attacks in the northern parts of Tete. In his end-of-visit press conference, Nyusi said that the country is managing the problem of displaced persons as well as possible, which is why some had already returned to their home region.

“But the big problem lies in the instigators of the movement of the Mozambicans to Malawi. Just don’t shoot, and all will return or remain productively in their areas of origin,” Nyusi said.

As for coal mining companies like Jindal ceasing production, the president said that coal-fired power plant development projects are underway, some underwritten by Jindal itself.

“So far there are no signs that there is too much energy or that the market is saturated. There are signs that, yes, energy is an increasingly necessary feature in boosting production,” Nyusi said, adding, however, that a stage where coal mining puts the country in a loss-making position was to be avoided.

There are reserves that can better be left for the future, Nyusi said, than be exploited now at any price, as was the case in Moatize, for example, which had long waited for market conditions to make operations sustainable.

Source: AIM