The President of the Republic, Filipe Nyusi, acknowledged yesterday (Tuesday 20) that the economic situation in the country is not good, as it is being affected by the El Niño phenomenon, which causes extreme weather events, especially cyclones, floods, storms and droughts that cause dry spells in some areas.

Speaking in Maputo, at an audience with the North American delegation responsible for nature conservation, called the International Conservation Caucus Foundation (ICCF-Group), the Mozambican statesman said that in view of this occurrence, mapping is currently underway with a view to assisting the affected populations.

"The government continues to work to improve the living conditions of the population," said Filipe Nyusi, giving as an example the reinforcement of the water and energy supply systems throughout the country, the latter of which the figures show covers 63% of the national territory.

According to data from the National Meteorological Institute (INAM), the El Niño phenomenon is currently weakening in the country and the trend now is for a transition to the La Niña phenomenon, which should affect the next rainy season.

"At the moment, the country is under the influence of the neutral phase of the El Niño and La Ninã climate phenomena. The weakening of El Niño is due to a reduction in the level of warming of the waters of the Pacific Ocean," says INAM.

Recently, an assessment by UN News also pointed out that the main agricultural season of 2023-2024 was affected by the drought induced by the El Niño climate phenomenon in Mozambique, highlighting that in the period between December last year and February 2024, there was a dry spell for 30 consecutive days.

According to the agency, an assessment carried out in partnership between the government and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) indicates that the lost agricultural production is more than 720,000 tons, equivalent to 19% of the global production of more than 3.8 million tons.