Things seem to be getting more and more complicated for Mozambicans. Price readjustments are occurring immediately, in all crucial sectors of the country's economic engine.
Recently, fuel prices have increased, and as could already be expected, the prices of public transport travel have also peaked. Without realizing the crossroads at a dead end, the Companhia Industrial da Matola (CIM) announced that the price of wheat flour - the main material for the production of bread, together with water, which will also increase its cost - will rise, starting January 15, 2022.
According to letterThe Association for Human Rights Network (ARDH) showed itself against the decision of the CIM, foreseeing a readjustment in the price of bread, a staple food in the diet of Mozambican citizens.
Fuel has gone up, chapa has gone up, FIPAG is going to raise the cost of water, and that association says that nothing justifies the increase in the price of wheat flour, given Mozambique's current financial situation and covid-19 hindrances.
Last year the President of the Mozambican Bakers Association, Victor Miguel, acknowledged that fuel price increases could lead to a rise in the cost of bread, according to rfi.
"Recently the fuel was increased, the water was increased and it was also announced that next month there will be an increase in part of the wheat flour, naturally this will bring complications in relation to what will be the production costs and we have to do a very big exercise to continue to maintain the price of bread, which is not easy," he quoted rfi on October 25, 2021.
But it seems that this year there will be no price maintenance or retreat.
ARDH says that the justifications evoked by CIM are not clear enough to support the intended increase, since the increase in the price of fuel and electricity does not affect that company exclusively.
"It is worth remembering that the State is also behind these increases that affect families, due to the decision it made in December of last year to increase the price of fuel," the document states.
The last readjustment of bread prices in Mozambique occurred a year ago, in 2020.