The president of the Mozambican Federation of Road Transport Associations (FEMATRO) said Monday to Lusa that the increase in the price of public transport is "irreversible", noting that the activity became "unsustainable" with the increase in fuel prices.

"The readjustment of the price in transport is irreversible. The question is not if there will be an update, the question is when, and for us, it should be this week," said Castigo Nhamane.

FEMATRO handed the government a proposal for a price increase and is waiting for the executive to give an answer this week, he added.

"I cannot disclose the price figures in our proposal, but it is already in the government's domain," he said.

Nhamane maintained that the activity has become unaffordable with the latest escalation in fuel prices, noting that the sector has not updated prices for five years.

Two weeks ago, Mozambique's Energy Regulatory Authority (ARENE) announced a price hike for petroleum products in the country of between 7% to 22%, reflecting the rising price of a barrel of crude oil.

The Minister of Economy and Finance, Adriano Maleiane, said last week in parliament that the increase in the price of petroleum products is still below what the calculation rules predict.

The price of gasoline "could be 75 [meticais per liter]" instead of the current increase to 69, if the law was applied, he said.

The increase could have been higher, but it wasn't, because we need to "do things gradually until we are back on the formula and it works as we had agreed," between the government and the gasoline companies, Maleiane said.

The calculation rule takes into account the price of a barrel of crude oil and the exchange rate of the metical, providing updates whenever there are variations greater than 3%.

Lusa Agency