The general level of prices in Mozambique, but particularly in Maputo, is causing alarm bells to ring about the cost of living, leaving citizens apprehensive about what the upcoming Christmas and end-of-year festive season may bring.

According to the National Statistics Institute (INE), the cost of living in October, the results of which were released on Monday, was 11%, with the price of food, alcoholic beverages and transportation weighing most heavily on people's pockets.

What the statistics reveal is felt directly by those who go to the market to buy their household groceries.

At the Zimpeto wholesaler, the main market that supplies the municipalities of Maputo and Matola, citizens complain about the cost of products.

"It's difficult. Every day you go to the market, the prices are always high," said Amélia Lizo, one of the citizens questioned by VOA's reporter, pointing to potatoes and tomatoes as the heaviest items in her pocket.

Those who do business there acknowledge that the cost is rising, but point to the rainy season and dependence on neighboring South Africa as the reasons for the price hike.

The government has announced a series of measures to contain the impact of the cost of living on people's pockets, namely through the Economic Acceleration Plan, which focuses on industrial activity, but the unions have yet to see any tangible results.

"In fact, the feeling is that little is being done to ease the cost of living in workers' pockets," says Alexandre Munguambe, general secretary of the Workers' Union.

The price hike comes at a time when the country is under threat of strikes in various sectors of the civil service because of the new Single Wage Scale.

The government, through the commission in charge of settling the matter, assures us that everything is practically settled and, at least as far as subsidies are concerned, which was one of the main complaints, the issue has been resolved.