NFLATION RATE OF 1.27 PER CENT IN AUGUST

The monthly inflation rate in Mozambique rose to 1.27 per cent in August, according to the latest figures from the National Statistics Institute (INE), based on the consumer price indices for the three largest cities (Maputo, Nampula and Beira).This compares with an inflation rate of 0.9 per cent in July and 0.76 per cent in June. The accumulated inflation between January and August stands at 11.68 per cent, while the yearly rate (1 September 2015 to 31 August 2016) is 21.96 per cent.As usual, the monthly inflation was due overwhelmingly to rises in food prices, because of the weighting given to food and drink in the basket of goods and services from which the Consumer Price Index is calculated. In August, the price of cooking oil rose by 10.3 per cent (after a rise of 7 per cent in July), of rice by 3.6 per cent, and of fresh or frozen fish by 2.7 per cent.There were also some significant rises for non-food items – the price of soap went up by 10.3 per cent, of new cars by 8.4 per cent, and of second hand cars by 9.3 per cent.There were slight declines in the prices of tomatoes, onions and cowpeas. Taken together, they fell in price by 0.63 per cent.Of the three cities covered by the survey, inflation was highest in Maputo (1.75 per cent in August). Prices went up by 0.94 per cent in Nampula and by 0.52 per cent in Beira.

HIGH EXCHANGE RATE CAUSED BY SPECULATION, SAYS MINISTER

The current exchange rate of the Mozambican currency, the metical, against the US dollar and other foreign currencies is the result of “large scale speculation”, according to the Minister of Economy and Finance, Adriano Maleiane.Interviewed by the independent television station STV, Maleiane said that “according to parity purchasing power, and bearing in mind inflation in the neighbouring countries, particularly South Africa, and the general level of prices in Mozambique, a dollar should cost 55 or 56 meticais”.But the current exchange rate, as quoted by the country’s largest commercial bank, the Millnnioum-BIM, is 75.1 meticais to the dollar. The difference between 55 and 75 meticais, Maleiane said “is pure speculation. People are charging whatever rate they like in the perspective of making gains”.He added that the government has been forced to dip into the country’s international reserves to acquire essential goods such as fuel and medicines, and to cover the deficit of 500 million dollars, which would normally be covered by the country’s international partners. The International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank and all the donors who support the state budget have suspended all financial aid because of the undisclosed government guaranteed loans inherited from the previous government, headed by President Armando Guebuza. These undisclosed loans amount to over a billion US dollars.

Maleane believed that the best way to overcome the deficit is to increase exports “but this doesn’t happen from one day to the next”. Currently the country’s exports amount to around three billion dollars a year – which is less than half of the import bill of seven billion dollars a year.Complicating matters were the attacks on the main roads in the centre of the country by gunmen of the Renamo rebels. “With attacks, it’s not possible to make things work normally”, said Maleiane. “And if I can’t export or sell goods, why should I produce them?”These difficulties had forced the government to reduce its forecast for this year’s growth rate from seven per cent to 4.5 per cent.“And the consequence of this is inflation, because we are not producing at the level we should”, said Maleiane. “Or if we do produce, the goods cannot move. For instance, to send a truck from Maputo to the north, the insurance costs nowadays are very expensive. This is reflected in the final price, and so we have high prices”. The most important step that could be taken would be to end Renamo attacks at once. “I can guarantee that, on the day we stop these attacks, and people move around normally, prices will fall”, declared the Minister.

EXHIBITORS DENIED VISAS TO ENTER NAMPULA

The Municipal Council in the northern Mozambican city of Nampula has protested at the refusal of the Nampula immigration authorities to grant entry visas to 16 exhibiters at an Egyptian exhibition under way in Nampula City Hall.The exhibition is intended as part of the establishment of cooperation ties between Egypt and Nampula, which, in terms of population is the third largest Mozambican city (after Maputo and Matola). The would-be exhibitors who were denied visas are of Egyptian, Filipino and Iranian nationalities. The note from the Municipal Council pointed out that, according to the Mozambican Foreign Ministry, the visitors could be given their visas at the official frontier posts, and in the case of Nampula, that post is Nampula International Airport. The council notes that the 17 exhibitors who came via Maputo were given visas at Maputo International Airport, but the same procedure was not followed for the exhibitors who flew directly to Nampula. The immigration services claimed that these exhibitors did not have any invitation, or proof of where they would be staying in Nampula.The Municipal Council effectively accused the immigration services of lying. “The exhibitors complied with all the basic requirements for obtaining a visa at the airport”, said the Council’s note. “They have a reference letter, passports, a confirmation of hotel reservations, money to live on, and they are enrolled in the exhibition. So the real reasons which led the immigration services to deny them visas remain obscure”. Even worse, the exhibitors were treated as if they were criminals. They were held for four days in the yard of the Nampula immigration services, under armed guard, and forced to sleep in the open. Contacted the director of immigration in Nampula, who merely suggested contacting the spokesperson of the Nampula provincial police command. The latter confirmed that the exhibitors had been denied visas, but gave no explanation, promising to provide more details “in due time”.

CHONGUICA NOMINATED FOR ALL AFRICA MUSIC AWARDS

The prominent Mozambican saxophonist and composer Moreira Chonguica has been nominated for an award by the All African Music Awards (AFRIMA) for the song “Ngoma” from his recent album “Live at Polana Serena Hotel”. The nomination is in the Best African Jazz category. The nominees for all the categories are chosen by the African Union Commission (AUC) and the AFIRMA jury.Commenting on the nomination process, AFIRMA’s Matlou Tsotetsi stated, “the urbane mix of African sounds in sync with modern tunes and works that promote the positive image of Africa to the world, are some of the guidelines the jury worked with during the screening and selection exercise”.Moreira Chonguica stated, “I am deeply honoured to have been nominated for this award. I have huge respect for my fellow nominees in this category”.The winner is chosen by public vote (http://afrima.org/index.php/voting) which ends on 5 November. The winner will be announced at a gala function in Lagos, Nigeria on 6 November.

INSPIRATION IN FIGHT AGAINST CANCER

The experience of partner countries such as Brazil and the United States is a source of inspiration and a challenge for future strategies for early diagnosis of cancer, declared Mozambique’s first lady, Isaura Nyusi, on Tuesday.Speaking in Maputo at a meeting on cancer prevention through mobile units, drawing on the experience of the Barretos Cancer Hospital in Brazil, Nyusi said “through the experience of its partners, Mozambique wishes to strengthen and consolidate the coordination of efforts between health professionals in the country linked to clinical practice and to research”.Nyusi said that cases of cancer are on the increase – notably cervical and breast cancer among women and prostate cancer and Kaposi’s sarcoma among men. Cancers frequently diagnosed in children are leukemia and Kaposi’s sarcoma. “This situation is worsened by the HIV/AIDS epidemic which affects 11.5 per cent of the adult population, and favours the development and worsening of some cancers”, added the First Lady. This is particularly the case with Kaposi’s sarcoma. This is a tumour, usually on the skin and mouth, which became so common among HIV-positive men in the 1980s as to become a marker for AIDS.Cervical and breast cancer are major concerns for women’s health in Mozambique, stressed Nyusi. A pilot study is now underway in three provinces to demonstrate the acceptability of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine in treating cervical cancer. In many other countries the vaccine has proved highly effective in preventing this form of cancer.Screening for cervical cancer and early treatment of the lesions have now been expanded to more health units, she added. Mozambique is taking a “multi-disciplinary approach” to improve the institutional capacity to respond to cancer, relying on support from partner institutions which have provided capacity building for Mozambican staff, including through video-conferences and technical visits. Among the challenges the health service faces, Isaura Nyusi added, is the need to mobilise more resources to strengthen the diagnosis and early treatment of cancer, in order to avoid preventable deaths.

RENAMO SUBMITS PROPOSALS ON DECENTRALISATION

The Mozambican rebel movement Renamo on Wednesday submitted new proposals for laws on decentralisation to the Joint Commission set up between the government and Renamo.

Reading out a statement to reporters on Wednesday night, after five hours of discussion behind closed doors, Mario Raffaelli, the Italian coordinator of the international mediating team, gave no details of the Renamo proposals, other than that they covered the seven points mentioned in the document agreed by the two sides on 17 August. That document was written as a response to the Renamo demand that it be allowed to appoint governors in the six central and northern provinces (Sofala, Manica, Tete, Zambezia, Nampula and Niassa) where it claims to have won the 2014 general elections. It put forward a package of seven points to be included in future constitutional amendments and new or amended legislation.The most important of these points is the constitutional amendment necessary to change the way in which provincial governors (and other local state bodies) are appointed or elected. There will also be amendments to the Law on Local State Bodies and its regulations, the Law on Provincial Assemblies, and the Law on the Organisation and Functioning of the Public Administration. New laws are to be drafted on the bodies of the provincial governments, and on provincial finances.Finally, the 1994 law on “municipal districts” will be “re-examined”. This law would have made each and every district a municipality. It was never implemented, but was replaced by a gradual approach to municipalisation. Thus initially only the 23 urban areas with city status, plus ten towns (one in each province) were granted municipal status, with directly elected mayors and municipal assemblies. Subsequently, 20 more towns have become municipalities, raising the total number of towns and cities where municipal elections were held in 2013 to 53.

According to Raffaelli, in the space of less than a month, Renamo has managed to draft proposals on all of these complex issues. He added that a government document delivered to the mediators promised that the government side will analyse the Renamo proposals.

But there was no advance whatever on the key issue of halting Renamo’s armed attacks, and dismantling the Renamo militia. The government is ready for an immediate suspension of hostilities, but Renamo is refusing to put down its weapons until the government withdraws its forces from the Gorongosa mountain range, near the bush camp where Renamo leader Afonso Dhlakama is currently living.The government refuses to make such a unilateral withdrawal of forces, arguing that it has a responsibility to defend the people of the region against Renamo attacks.Renamo is even making the withdrawal of government forces from their positions a pre-condition for a meeting between Dhlakama and the mediators. Since Dhlakama refuses to travel to Maputo, the mediators propose to meet him in the bush – but Renamo is refusing to establish a demilitarized corridor to allow this to happen.The Renamo proposals on decentralization are now with the technical sub-commission set up in August, which will meet on Thursday to consider them.The full Joint Commission is due to meet again on Monday. It is nowhere near achieving the purpose for which it was set up – namely to arrange a face-to-face meeting between Dhlakama and President Filipe Nyusi.

Free Zone In Tete

The Mozambican government plan to set up an Industrial Free Zone in the Revobue region of the western province of Tete, as part of a strategy to establish industrial development poles.A decree on the new free zone was passed on Tuesday at the weekly session of the Council of Ministers (Cabinet).
The government spokesperson, Deputy Health Minister Mouzinho Saide, told reporters that the purpose of an industrial free zone is to attract “structuring investments”, increase and diversify the country’s exports, promote technological development, and create jobs. “The development of projects in the extractive and mining industry in Tete has created the conditions for setting up poles of industrial development”, claimed Saide. He said the new free zone would lie between the districts of Chiuta and Moatize.The anchor project will be an iron and steel factory, in which an estimated 770 million US dollars will be invested. He did not reveal where this money would come from other than that it is from private sources.Tete has two of the crucial components for making steel – deposits of iron ore, and of high grade coking coal. Coal mining in the province is currently in crisis due to the collapse of coal prices on the international market. The Council of Ministers also extended for a further 25 years the contract for joint management of the Gorongosa National Park, one of the jewels in Mozambique’s wild life crown, by the government and the Carr Foundation of the United States.Saide said the contract will allow the government and the foundation set up by US philanthropist Gregory Carr to accompany the growth of the Gorongosa ecosystem and of tourist undertakings in the park.

LAM SUSPENDS ACQUISITION OF NEW AIRCRAFT

Mozambique Airlines (LAM) has suspended the acquisition of new aircraft and the opening of any further routes, because of the company’s difficult financial situation.Back in 2014, the company’s then Chief Executive Officer, Marlene Manave, declared that LAM was acquiring three Boeing 737 Next Generation aircraft, which would be delivered in 2015, 2016 and 2017.First came a postponement, with the arrival of the first of the new Boeings delayed until November this year, and now has come the suspension of the entire deal.

 With no new aircraft, plans for LAM to fly to the capitals of all member states of SADC (Southern African Development Community) have also been put on ice.Indeed, one of LAM’s existing regional routes has already been shelved. In June, LAM suspended its flights between Maputo and Luanda, which were making a heavy loss, and announced that they would resume “as soon as market conditions make this possible”. LAM chairperson Antonio Pinto de Abreu told reporters of the company’s decisions on Monday, during a meeting of the Consultative Council of the government’s Institute for the Management of State Holdings (IGEPE). “LAM has decided to retreat from the decision to buy new aircraft because it is unable to pay for these acquisitions”, he said. LAM had already paid Boeing some money upfront, and Pinto de Abreu said contacts with American aircraft manufacturer are under way in an attempt to recover this money. 

Up to this year, the top management of LAM had presented the image of a financially healthy company, but in reality it ran at a heavy loss. Pinto de Abreu said that six months ago LAM had debts of 160 million US dollars. The new LAM Board which he heads had set about tackling the debt and had brought it down to 139 million dollars.“LAM is not in a healthy situation”, said Abreu. The accounts for 2015 “show the company has a deficit arising from structural motives”. Among the problems was the nature of the LAM fleet. Past managements had purchased several different types of aircraft (mostly Boeing, Embraer and Bombardier), which meant the company needed to manage accessories and spare parts for all these different makes, and train pilots and technical staff to handle them. Reducing this diversity of aircraft, said Abreu, would reduce costs, because the same training could be given to all staff, and the aircraft could be used in all of Mozambique’s airports.

PRESIDENT NYUSI TO VISIT UNITED STATES

The Confederation of Mozambican Business Associations (CTA) has revealed that President Filipe Nyusi will pay a working visit to the United States from 14 to 17 September.In a statement, the CTA called for Mozambican entrepreneurs to join its delegation which, along with President Nyusi, will participate in two business forums.The first meeting will be held in Washington on 15 September, organised by the Mozambican embassy and the Corporate Council on Africa (CCA). It will focus on agriculture, energy, infrastructure, and tourism.The second forum will be held the next day in Houston, organised by the embassy and the Greater Houston Partnership. The city is the capital of the US hydrocarbon industry, and the business meeting will look at Mozambique’s future growth in this sector and the future business opportunities.During his time in the United States, President Nyusi will also attend the United Nations General Assembly in New York, which begins on 13 September with the General Debate opening on 20 September.

BREAKING NEWS BREAKING NEWS BREAKING NEWS BREAKING NEWS

The delegations appointed by Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi and by the leader of the Renamo rebels, Afonso Dhlakama, have reached agreement that a package of legislation on decentralization should be drawn up by November, for presentation to the Mozambican parliament, the Assembly of the Republic.

The agreement was announced on Wednesday morning at the end of a meeting between the government/Renamo Joint Commission, which discussed only the first point on its agenda – namely the demand by Renamo that it should be allowed to govern the six provinces which it claims to have won in the October 2014 general elections.

A brief statement, read out to reporters by the head of the Renamo side, Jose Manteigas, said that the two delegations had reached consensus that the Renamo demand “should be discussed in the framework of national unity and the process of administrative decentralization, granting more decision making powers to local state bodies, including financial resources, and the decentralized form of election/appointment of Provincial Government”.

This formulation sidesteps the issue of whether provincial governors should be appointed or elected. Under the current Constitution the President of the Republic appoints all the provincial governors. Dhlakama, however, wants the right to appoint governors in those provinces which he says were won by Renamo. The second opposition party, the Mozambique Democratic Movement (MDM – which is not represented at the current talks) has insisted that the governors should be elected, and not appointed.

The two delegations agreed to set up a sub-commission charged with drawing up the package of legislation to be submitted to the Assembly. There are seven points in this package, the most important of which is the constitutional amendment necessary to change the way in which provincial governors (and other local state bodies) are appointed or elected.

The sub-commission must amend the Law on Local State Bodies and its regulations, the Law on Provincial Assemblies, and the Law on the Organisation and Functioning of the Public Administration. New laws are to be drafted on the bodies of the provincial governments, and on provincial finances.

Finally, the sub-commission must “re-examine” the 1994 law on “municipal districts”. This law would have made each and every district a municipality. It was never implemented, but was replaced by a gradual approach to municipalisation. Thus initially only the 23 urban areas with city status, plus ten towns (one in each province) were granted municipal status, with directly elected mayors and municipal assemblies. Subsequently, 20 more towns have become municipalities, raising the total number of towns and cities where municipal elections were held in 2013 to 53.

Reverting to the 1994 model of municipal districts may prove difficult to reconcile with current municipal legislation, and would certainly be extremely expensive.

Despite this proposed package of legislation, Renamo still wants some way of ruling the six provinces it claims in the near future, before those laws can take effect. Thus the consensual statement from the Joint Commission declared “legal mechanisms should be found for the provisional appointment of provincial governors from Renamo as quickly as possible”.

Under the current constitution the only possible legal mechanism would be for Renamo to submit names to Nyusi who would then appoint them as governors.

Renamo has insistently claimed that it won the 2014 elections in the six central and northern provinces of Manica, Sofala, Tete, Zambezia, Nampula and Niassa. 

But this claim is untrue. Dhlakama topped the poll in the presidential election in five provinces (Sofala, Zambezia, Manica, Tete and Nampula), but Renamo only won a majority of votes in the parliamentary elections in Sofala and Zambezia. 

In the election for provincial assemblies, Renamo won a majority in Sofala, Zambezia and Tete, while in Nampula both Renamo and the ruling Frelimo Party won 46 seats. In Manica, Frelimo won one seat more than Renamo. 

As for Niassa, Frelimo (and Nyusi, who was then its presidential candidate) won in all three elections. 

The statement from the Commission said nothing at all about any of the other points on the agenda – in particular, there is no commitment from Renamo to halt military hostilities or to disarm its militia.

As for the proposed meeting between the team of foreign mediators and Dhlakama, this too was not discussed, and no firm date has yet been set for the mediators to visit Dhlakama at his military base in the Sofala district of Gorongosa.

18.12% in Beira’s 1st half

Annual average inflation rose to 11.7 percent in July, its highest for four years.As the price of products and services again rises across the country, life is becoming increasingly difficult. Families who have already cut their costs will have to cut further, and the management of family budget will have to be even more careful.Data from the National Statistics Institute (INE) reveals the details. The price of cooking oil rose 7 percent in July; rice, 2.2 percent; onions are 5.5 percent more expensive and horse mackerel is up by 4.7 percent. Neither does the drama end there. The price of corn flour and dried fish increased by 1.3 percent and 4.8 percent respectively.From January to July of this year, the city of Beira, in Sofala, registered the highest increase at 18.12 percent, followed by Nampula with 12.17 percent and Maputo with 8.42 percent.Up until July 2015, average annual inflation was 2.23 percent, 9.47 percent less if compared to the same period this year. In the same period of 2014, prices had only risen by 3.39 percent.

“Reduce the competitiveness”

Tanzania Port Authority (TPA) is finalising the construction of three modern vessels to ply Lake Nyasa. Kyela Port Manager, Mr Percival Salama, said the vessels would help opening up economic and business opportunities for the three regions of Mbeya, Njombe and Ruvuma as well as neighbouring countries of Mozambique and Zambia.He also noted that the move would also help in facilitating opening up of the ‘Mtwara Development Corridor’ to make Mtwara and Mbamba Bay ports to serve the market in Malawi and reduce the competitiveness of Mozambique ports to Dar es Salaam port.“This would make Mtwara port increase its cargo volume all the time during the cashew nut harvest season,” he said. Mr Salama was also optimistic that once the vessel starts operations, the TPA would reap the benefits of increased revenue.“Many customers have already shown readiness to use the water transport upon the completion of construction of these vessels,” he said. Out of the three ships, two would be for carrying goods and the remaining one for transporting passengers.It is expected that the construction of the cargo vessels would be completed in October while the remaining passenger vessel would be ready for use from February next year.The ship building project is undertaken by M/s Songoro Marine Transport Ltd and that the passenger vessel will have a capacity of carrying 200 people and a consignment of a maximum weight of 200 tons.In ensuring that the TPA improves port services in Lake Nyasa, Mr Salaam said TPA has completed repairing five boats to be used for improving transport in the area.