The allocation of compensation and subsidies to carriers to mitigate the impact of rising fuel prices began this Thursday, announced a source at the Metropolitan Transport Agency of Maputo.

The payments are made through bank transfers, and the Mozambican government is expected to channel about 90 million meticais into the process, said António Matos, of the Maputo Metropolitan Transport Agency, cited by the newspaper Domingo.

According to the responsible, the value will be defined in function of the "fuel price differential from the first increase" in March to the current price, in addition to the type and consumption of the car.

The decision to grant a subsidy to public transportation companies in the provincial capitals was taken after the July 4 stoppages, when owners of buses and 'chapas', light vehicles improvised as collective urban transportation, pulled over their vehicles in protest against the increase in fuel prices, causing long lines and confusion in some areas of the Mozambican capital.

Part of the "chapeiros" that guarantee the circulation in the Mozambican urban centers do not have a license for the activity, one of the requirements for the attribution of subsidies by the Government.

According to Ambrósio Sitoe, spokesman for the Ministry of Transport and Communications, the government will speed up the legalization of "informal" transporters who are in the sector, a measure aimed at preventing some from being excluded from the subsidy process.

Mozambique's Energy Regulatory Authority (Arene) announced on July 1 the third fuel price hike this year, with cooking gas going up by almost 20%.

The war in Ukraine and global inflationary pressures led to the new prices, which went into effect on Saturday in Mozambique.

Gasoline went up from 83.30 meticais per liter to 86.97 meticais and diesel went from 78.97 meticais to 87.97 meticais per liter.

In 2008 and 2010, the increase in the price of road transport, accompanied by the rising cost of essential goods and services, sparked popular uprisings in some of the country's major cities, resulting in clashes with the police and destruction in some places.