The Mozambican President, Daniel Chapo, said that the government is studying measures to reduce the cost of the ‘basic food basket’ in the country, saying that society is waiting for ‘concrete actions’ and not ‘nice speeches.’
‘We are studying other measures to lower the cost of some of the products in the basic food basket. Society doesn’t wait for pretty speeches, but for concrete actions that bring effective solutions to its needs,’ he explained on Thursday (20), during the swearing-in ceremony of the new Secretaries of State.
For the head of state, the priority must be to rebuild the ‘social, economic and political fabric’ for the ‘well-being of the Mozambican people’, a process which, according to him, has already been started by the new Executive in the first 45 days of government.
In his speech, Chapo described ‘the reduction in fuel prices, the payment of the 13th salary, the revitalisation of Mozambique Airlines and the creation of the local development fund in districts and municipalities as measures that have a direct impact on the lives of citizens’.
‘Dear Secretaries of State, start sketching out innovative ways to overcome economic and social difficulties together, with the aim of bringing smiles back to our compatriots. We ask for more innovation and hard work. Be enemies of corruption, at the risk of being replaced.’
Recently, the prime minister admitted the possibility of suspending Value Added Tax (VAT) on basic necessities and intervening to reduce fuel prices in order to ease the cost of living.
‘We are working to find various solutions and one of them is to take the products in the basic basket of the Mozambican people and work to see if we can remove VAT, which is what makes prices more expensive,’ he said at a press conference in Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital, taking stock of his first participation in the 38th African Union (AU) summit.
At issue are the successive demonstrations and stoppages in the country, in which, in addition to contesting the results of the general elections on 9 October, Mozambicans are complaining, among other things, about the high cost of living and lack of jobs.
