RECORD ELECTRICITY PRODUCTION AT CAHORA BASSA

Hidroelectrica de Cahora Bassa (HCB), the company that operates the Cahora Bassa dam on the Zambezi River in the western Mozambican province of Tete, has announced that it produced 16,078 gigawatt-hours of electricity in 2015.

This is the highest annual production in HCB’s history and an increase of 6.8 per cent on the power generated in 2014. Production is now close to the maximum installed capacity (which is 2,075 megawatts).A press release from HCB announced that the company ended 2015 with a net profit of 4.155 billion meticais (71.6 million US dollars at current exchange rates). This was a 73 per cent increase on the previous year. HCB’s healthy financial situation has allowed it to continue paying in advance the 700 million US dollar loan contracted in 2007 which allowed the Mozambican state to take control of the company.Up until 2007, the Portuguese state owned 82 per cent of HCB, and Mozambique only 18 per cent. Under the agreement of that year between the two governments, the Mozambican shareholding increased to 85 per cent and the Portuguese holding fell to 15 per cent.To finance this sale the Mozambican government took on a US$700 million loan from a banking syndicate made up of French bank CA Lyon and Portuguese bank BPI, which would be paid off using profits from the company’s business.Furthermore, HCB’s performance in 2015 allowed the company to pay its two shareholders (the Mozambican and Portuguese states) a dividend that was 53 per cent higher than in 2014.

GOVERNMENT-RENAMO COMMISSION HOLDS SECOND MEETING

The joint commission formed between the Mozambican government and the rebel movement Renamo on Monday agreed an agenda for a dialogue between President Filipe Nyusi and Renamo leader Afonso Dhlakama.After the three hour meeting, held on the promises of the country’s parliament, the Assembly of the Republic, both sides claimed that consensus had been reached but gave no details.

“We have succeeded in reaching a consensual draft agenda, which we shall send to our leaderships”, Renamo parliamentarian Jose Manteigas told reporters. Only after Nyusi and Dhlakama have approved it will the agenda become definitive.The meeting also agreed “general lines of the terms of reference” for the dialogue, but these too were not made public. However, the Joint Commission promised to give more details at its next meeting, scheduled for Wednesday afternoon. Manteigas claimed that the Monday meeting was “cordial” with an attitude of “openness and exchange of ideas”.

The government delegation consists of former security minister Jacinto Veloso, former justice minister Benvinda Levy (who is now an advisor to Nyusi), and an official in the President’s office, Alves Mutuque.The other two members of the Renamo delegation are Eduardo Namburete and Andre Magibire, who are also parliamentarians.It is not clear how many more meetings the Joint Commission will hold. Nyusi has made it clear that the Commission only exists to prepare the ground for a face-to-face meeting between himself and Dhlakama.Nyusi does not want a repeat of the last dialogue between the government and Renamo, which ran from April 2013 to August 2015, with 114 meetings achieving very little.

Chinese car assembled in Mozambique

The Mozambican company Matchedje Motors, which assembles vehicles at its factory in Machava, in the southern city of Matola, on Tuesday donated four vehicles to the police in the capital city Maputo.At a ceremony held to mark the 41st anniversary of the creation of the Mozambican police force (PRM), three vehicles were handed over: two minibuses and a twin cabin vehicle.Speaking at the ceremony, the company’s general manager Sandra Song explained that the gesture was a way of thanking the police for its work maintaining public order and tranquillity.On behalf of the Chinese embassy, He Yuan noted that the gift was part of a deepening of cooperation between the two countries, especially in the area of public security. He added, “cooperation over public security is very important because social order is essential for a country’s development”.In response, the General Commander of the police, Julio Jane, thanked Matchedje Motors for the donation and the Chinese embassy for all the support that it had given the police. Matchedje Motors is a partnership between the Mozambican state and the Chinese company China Tong Jian Investment. With a total investment of about 150 million US dollars, the factory was built on an area of 20,000 square metres in Machava.

Matchedje, town where they held the II Congress of the Mozambique Liberation Front (FRELIMO / party in power) in 1968, was classified national heritage.

Life in Mozambique has risen to 57.6 years old

A study on social protection in Mozambique, conducted by the Institute of Social and Economic Studies (IESE), indicates that the country does not have a universal pension for the elderly because still "there are not enough incentives to replace a selective system, fragmented, discriminatory and charitable, by a comprehensive universal system and potentially structuring of new international relations in favor of an effective social cohesion. " The country, according to the survey, has the second largest elders participation rate in the labor force in the world. Most seniors working to death, but because of their contributions to the national economy, during youth and adulthood, do not obey any administrative procedure, and do not guarantee savings, they are not eligible for the current model for old age. (...) Elects up the so-called "vulnerable", "while the rest, the vast majority, who arrange itself. However, who else has supported and paid for maintaining the current formal system are the international donors. "

However, the average life expectancy in the world increased by 5 years between 2000 and 2015, the highest growth since the 60s, and now the average global life stands at 71.4 years old.According to the data of the annual report on the overall health of the WHO, there are 29 countries in the world to surpass the 80 years of average life expectancy, and in 12 of them, is greater than 82 years. The oldest in the world are in Japan (83.7 years average), Switzerland (83.4 years), Singapore (83.1 years), Australia and Spain (82.8 years), Italy (82 7 years), Iceland (82.7 years) Israel (82.5 years), France (82.4 years), Sweden (82.4 years), South Korea (82.3 years) and Canada (82 ,2 years).On the opposite side, there are still 20 countries where its inhabitants do not exceed the average of 60 years, all of them on the African continent, as well as Mozambique: Angola (52.4 years), Burkina Faso (59.9 years), Burundi (59 6 years), Cameroon (57.3 years), Central African Republic (52.5 years), Ivory Coast (53.3 years), Democratic Republic of Congo (59.8 years), Equatorial Guinea (58, 2 years), Guinea (59 years), Guinea-Bissau (58.9 years), Lesotho (53.7 years), Malawi (58.3 years), Mali (58.2 years), Nigeria (54, 5 years), Chad (53.1 years), Togo (59.9 years), Swaziland (58.9 years), Somalia (55 years) and Sierra Leone (with 50.1 years).By sex, WHO stresses that women live longer than men in all countries and regions of the world.

MOZAMBIQUE EARNED 193 MILLION DOLLARS FROM TOURISM

Mozambique earned revenue of 193 million US dollars from tourism in 2015, when 1.63 million tourists visited the country, according to President Filipe Nyusi.Speaking on Thursday at the opening of an International Cnference on the Development of Tourism in Beijing, Nyusi said that investment projects in tourism in 2015 amounted to 139 million dollars, and the sector employs over 50,000 people, directly and indirectly.“These indicators, although they represent a considerable growth in comparison to previous years, are far from corresponding to the potential that Mozambique offers”, he said.The government was thus determined “to improve institutional performance, to attain levels of excellence in providing services to the public. We have made interventions in order to create an environment more favourable to tourist investment”.This included “simplifying procedures for the licensing of economic activities and giving greater incentives to the investors and users of Mozambican facilities”.The government’s Strategic Plan for the Development of Tourism over the next decade, Nyusi said, had as its goal “that by 2025 Mozambique will be the most vibrant, dynamic and exotic destination in Africa”.That vision, he added, “stimulates us to improve the competitiveness of Mozambique in tourism and to develop access and infrastructures. Our vision of tourism is a direct invitation to all investors and tourists to choose Mozambique as a heavenly destination, on the coast and in the interior”.In a period of economic downturn, characterised by a fall in the prices of commodity exports, and a retraction of investment in minerals, tourism could be a valuable alternative. But Nyusi warned that tourism depends on peace and stability.“Acts of terrorism, the absence of effective peace and violence have been significantly affecting tourist activity”, he said.Nonetheless, Nyusi added, tourism “can contribute towards increasing the level of understanding and interaction among peoples, promoting peace and concord in the world”. Tourism could thus become “a factor in the construction and maintenance of peace, and of bringing peoples and nations closer together”.“It enriches cultures and harmony in diversity”, Nyusi claimed. “The tourism industry contributes to the redistribution of wealth, and is thus one of the greatest promoters of social justice”. 

Sasol Mozambique donates US$200,000

Sasol, in partnership with Company Mozambican Hydrocarbon and the International Finance Cooperation, will donate 12 million meticais (about US$200,000 dollars) to help about five thousand families affected by drought in Funhalouro district in the southern province of Inhambane. A statement from Sasol Mozambique received by AIM yesterday says that the “support will ensure that communities in Funhalouro are able to recover their livelihoods and ensure food security” and will be spent immediately to supply food and water.“Considering our presence in Inhambane province, which is badly affected by drought, we feel the need to get involved, particularly because Mozambique is the heart of our sub-Saharan growth strategy,” says the statement. “We have a history of providing emergency support in Mozambique, from flooding to hurricanes, and we will continue to respond and help wherever possible,” it adds. The Sasol support comes two weeks after the UN expressed the need, in coordination with cooperation partners, to mobilize resources estimated at over US$200 million to meet the needs of people affected by drought in the country.

“Ashes on Your Hands”

The play “Cinza Nas Tuas Mãos” (“Ashes On Your Hands”) by the Mozambican theatre group Lareira Artes has been voted the best foreign theatre piece presented in Brazil during the past year.The contest, organized by journalist and theatre critic, Miguel Arcanjo Prado, selected five works presented at theatre festivals in Brazil in 2015, including “Ashes On Your Hands”, “The Seagulll” (Russia), “Tapioca” (Mexico), “La Maldita Vanidad” (Colombia) and “Fuerza Bruta” (Argentina).The winning work was adapted from the text of French writer Laurent Gaudé with staging by Elliot Alex and interpretation by actors Diaz Santana, Lucrezia Noronha and Sergio Mabombo. The play was presented in November last year at Brazil’s Lusophone Theatre Festival.“Cinza Nas Tuas Mãos” essentially criticizes warlords and expresses the solidarity of all who suffer the worldwide scourge, and tells the story of two wartime gravediggers who comply with orders from above to make corpses resulting from the conflict disappear. However, from the rubble there emerges a survivor who sets out to plague them.The play was voted third best foreign theatre play presented in Brazil last year by a group of theatre critics published in the newspaper Folha de São Paulo.Since its formation in 2010, Lareira Artes has participated in festivals in Mozambique, Angola, Portugal, Brazil and Macau. The group won the IMPACTO prize at the Brazilian Peripheries Festival for “Cavaqueira do Poste”, which piece also best foreign show at Angola’s Cazenga Festival. It was also the winner of the Revelation prize at the latest edition of the Festilip Portuguese language theatre festival in Brazil.

Macilau at Lisbon contemporary art fair

Mozambican photographer Macilau Mario is one of the 44 artists selected for the first edition of the International Contemporary Art Fair (ARCOlisboa) taking place from the 26th to 29th of this month in Lisbon.Macilau, winner of the US Government’s “Foreign Policy” award for his struggle to shape a better world, recently participated in a photographic human rights course in Geneva, Switzerland.According to ARCOlisboa, exhibitors will represent Portugal, Spain, Brazil, France, Italy, Germany, United States of America and Colombia as well as Mozambique.The event program includes public discussions forums in the Torreão Este da Cordoaria exhibition space in the Portuguese capital.Meetings aimed at establishing a dialogue with foreign collectors and institutions such as the Serralves Museum, Calouste Gulbenkian Museum, Berardo Collection Museum and Kunsthalle Lissabon and with art curators and critics from around the world will be facilitated.A program of visits to various museums of Lisbon such as the Berardo Collection Museum, the National Museum of Contemporary Art – Museu do Chiado, the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation and the National Museum of Ancient Art, among others, is also envisaged.

"Many shadows"

The Democratic Movement of Mozambique (MDM) considers that remain "many shadows" in the announcement of resumption of peace talks between the government and Renamo, warning of the risk of political polarization and removal of other stakeholders in dialogue.

"For us there are still many shadows, because each [government and Renamo] made his demands, and suddenly, in a matter of hours, we have seen this situation," he told Lusa Simango (photo1), leader of the MDM, wondering how fast the announcement of the resumption of dialogue was made and claiming that now "the most important is that the two parties will not alone for this dossier of peace."

The Mozambican National Resistance (Renamo) today announced the names of Members José Butters, Eduardo Namburete (photo2) and Andrew Magibire to resume dialogue with the Government and prepare a meeting at the highest level about the end of political and military crisis in Mozambique.

The Renamo's announcement came two days after the head of the Mozambican state has asked the leader of the main opposition party to indicate his team, after several months in which the dialogue between the parties was blocked, while aggravated the climate of military confrontation in the center of the country.Speaking today to Lusa, the president of MDM hopes that the talks between the government and Renamo does not mean "a denial of the civil society and other political parties," nor a hidden agenda between the two leaders.

"The concern is that it is a process in which two people meet, understand what they understand and none of it is released", Simango said, referring to the recent revelation of hidden loans by the Mozambican state, where "there were people who They hid the game and debt. "The leader of MDM and also mayor of Beira, the second largest Mozambican city, warned last talks between the government and Renamo and that "experience does not bring confidence," an allusion to the return of military confrontation after the Comprehensive Peace Agreement in 1992 and the Cessation Hostilities Agreement in 2014."You can repeat the scenario in which the two sides talk, hide what they say and then people are surprised by new acts of war, as has happened in the past", Simango said, who also expressed his distrust by the announcement of resumption of dialogue have not been accompanied by a truce or ceasefire, with attacks registers allocated by the authorities for Renamo in recent days.

Negotiations between the Mozambican government and Renamo have been stalled for several months after the largest opposition party withdrew from the case, citing a lack of progress and seriousness by the executive.The suspension of the dialogue was accompanied by a worsening political violence, with clashes reports between Renamo and the Defence and Security Forces, as well as mutual accusations of abductions and assassinations of militants on both sides and even attacks attributed by the authorities to the military arm opposition to civilian targets in the center of the country.The main opposition party refuses to accept the results of the general elections in 2014, threatening to rule in six provinces where claims victory in the poll.

As a condition to return to the negotiating table, Renamo leader, Afonso Dhlakama, has required the involvement of the European Union, the Catholic Church and the President of South Africa, Jacob Zuma.Despite the possibility of mediation have been cleared by Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi, at this stage, Renamo believes that the resumption of dialogue does not ignore the involvement of the international community in the later stages the work of the Joint Committee now consists.

From the Government side, Filipe Nyusi had appointed in March Jacinto Veloso (photo3), member of the National Council for Defence and Security, Maria Benvinda Levi, advisor to the President of the Republic, and Alves Muteque, frame the Presidency to prepare the meeting with Dhlakama.

While annual food price inflation tops 30%

National Statistics Institute consumer price index data from Maputo, Beira and Nampula cities suggest that the country registered month-on-month inflation of 2.23 percent, with imported food price hikes contributing heavily to the increase.An INE graph highlights the increase in tomato prices (22.4 percent), onion (25.7 percent), rice (5.3 percent), flour corn (5.7 percent), cassava flour (12.5 percent), butter beans (5.7 percent), and potato-reno (11.7 percent), and shows no result of the government’s decision to reduce the reference prices for fresh produce imports by, for example, 44.4 percent for tomatoes, 42.3 percent for potatoes dropped and 24 percent for onions.This increase in the cost of life occurred in the same month Mozambicans in formal employment were informed that their wages would increase only between 4 percent and 14 percent, while the year’s cumulative inflation since January had already reached 8.71 percent. For the same period in 2015, the country registered a price increase in the order of 17.29 percent, when power and non-alcoholic beverages were the increase leaders.Although the government blames unrest for the increased cost of living, the INE data reveals that Maputo, which primarily gets its food supplies from neighbouring South Africa, has the highest inflation (0.99pp), while Nampula and Beira cities, which should be the most affected by the conflict, contributed only 0.82pp and 0.42pp respectively to the price hikes.Another fallacy is that the cost of food imports is the biggest burden on foreign currency reserves. Bank of Mozambique statements reveal that Mozambique spent US$37.6 million on fuel but only US$17.9 million on imported food and medicines.Despite the international slump, oil prices fuel prices in our Mozambique have not been adjusted since 2011 (when the OPEC reference price per barrel was US$150; it is now US$47) and several studies, including one by the International Monetary Fund, indicate that, since most Mozambicans do not own a car or travel in own, the subsidy to petrol stations does not benefit the people.In fact, the biggest single owner of vehicles in Mozambique is the government executive and its members.

Currency scarce in Mozambique

The cost of living has risen again, officially over 2.23 percent for the month, mainly due to the rise in price of food imports. The food itself has not become more expensive, but more meticais are needed to buy the foreign currency required to pay for it.In April, the Bank of Mozambique had to spend US$39.7 million of its currency reserves to service external public debt of US$9.89 billion. The central finance institution, directed by Ernesto Gove, which continues to ignore the loans illegally backed by the state in its analysis of the national economy, does not indicate which debts were repaid, but it is unlikely that they are, as the EMATUM or Proindicus sums payable in the month would exceed US$190 million.Last Friday, the Bank of Mozambique’s Monetary Policy Committee decided to maintain the high cost of access to money in commercial banks. “Strengthening the intervention in the interbank markets in order to ensure that the balance of the monetary base for May 2016 is in line with the forecast of  US$69,507 million.”

Keeping the Permanent Liquidity Lending Facility interest rate at 12.75 percent, keeping the rate of Standing Deposit Facility interest at 5.75 percent and maintaining the Reserve Requirement Coefficient at 10.5 percent for liabilities in national currency and 15 percent for liabilities in foreign currency (effective from June 7, 2016) are the chief elements of monetary policy according to a central bank statement seen by @Verdade.

And measures that will continue to shrink national investment and lead to the loss of more jobs, as economic indicators continue to deteriorate.Gove, who admitted that the more than US$2 billion in loans backed by the state failed to enter into their coffers again ignores the impact of these debts, secretly contracted by the Mozambican Tuna Company (Ematum) , Proindicus and Mozambique Asset Management (MAM) and incurred by the state in violation of both the constitution as well as the budget law.However, the central bank revealed in its statement that the net international reserves declined in April to only US$1.7 billion due to net sales of foreign currency in the interbank foreign exchange market, net transfers of commercial banks and also “repayment of external public debt service in the amount of US$39.7 million”.

The statement does not specify which foreign debt was repaid.

We now know that the “total amount of public debt, including guarantees issued by the government and debts incurred by the Bank of Mozambique to finance the balance of payments, reported on December 31, 2015 is US$11.64 billion. Of this amount, US$9.89 billion is foreign debt, including US$247 million from the Bank of Mozambique,” according to Prime Minister Carlos Agostinho do Rosario’s statement of April 28.Following the taking on as sovereign debt of the Ematum loans, Mozambique should be paying investors US$112 million US dollars by this time, says specialist publication Zitamar News, which itself failed to ascertain whether any payment had in fact been made.The same publication indicates that Proindicus SA, which illegally contracted loans backed by the Armando Guebuza executive of US$622 million in 2013, should have paid about US$80 million to its creditors in April and another installment of US$24 million in May.Also according to Zitamar News, state company MAM, whose 2014 debts of US$535 million the state illegally endorsed, will pay creditors US$134 million in May.