“The Government has mobilized resources to ensure that there is stability in public transport prices, having already 50 million dollars for this purpose,” said Max Tonela, Minister of Economy and Finance.
Max Tonela was speaking at a press conference with Abebe Selassie, Director of the African department of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), who is visiting Mozambique to assess the scenario and learn about the Government’s measures.
The Minister of Economy and Finance, attributed for the first time a number to the “passenger subsidy” that has been announced since a week ago by the Mozambican authorities, but about which details about the application are pending.
“Even if there are additional increases” in fuel prices, “the populations in urban centers” will be “protected, at least for the next six months,” Tonela said, with the prospect that the situation will improve in the meantime – that is, that oil will once again trade below $100 per barrel.
“In addition, we have mobilized $85 million” to “finance more disadvantaged families, increasing the number of households covered and the amount to be allocated” under the State’s social support, especially in peri-urban and rural areas.
These measures are in addition to reformulations in the calculation of fuel prices, decided by the Government since March to mitigate the three increases this year, Tonela stressed, adding that other support may be discussed.
