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Mozambique: No Reason for Festive Season Price Hikes
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Agencia de Informacao de Mocambique (Maputo)
8 December 2007
Posted to the web 10 December 2007
Maputo
The Bank of Mozambique has warned shops and other businesses that there is no reason for any price hikes in the run-up to the Xmas and New Year holiday period.
Speaking to reporters on Friday, the spokesperson for the central bank, Waldemar de Sousa, pointed out that imports should not rise in price because, over the course of 2007, the Mozambican currency, the metical, strengthened by 3,6 per cent against the US dollar, and by 1.8 per cent against the South African rand.
Furthermore, as from 1 December the maximum customs tariff for most goods imported from South Africa and other members of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) dropped from 20 to 10 per cent.
(As of 1 January, the tariff will drop to zero, as the SADC free trade area takes effect. A few goods, however, have been declared "sensitive" to protect Mozambican producers, and will continue to pay duty).
Television reports from Maputo shops and markets have noted sharp rises in the price of some foodstuffs over the past week, justified by shopkeepers with the threadbare claim that their suppliers have raised their prices.
But Waldemar de Sousa said that assurances from the Finance Ministry, the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Mozambique Tax Authority, and even from some businesses that produce goods and services, all led to the conclusion that "we are prepared to face this end of the year period with the greatest of tranquillity. In other words, the supply of goods will meet the demand".
"Since the goods are available and the exchange rate is cheaper, we must hope and predict that prices will not be changed", he said. "We are saying, very clearly, that exchange rate stability will continue to the end of the year".
Waldemar de Sousa added that the strength of the metical against the dollar also softened the impact of the rise in international oil prices, since these are denominated in dollars.
"What we can hope for is that businesses will also play their part, helping to provide every Mozambican citizen with happy holidays through more stable prices", he declared. "This is the message we would like to send to the public".
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Sousa also promised that the Bank of Mozambique is working with the commercial banks to ensure a sufficient supply of cash, so that ATMs do not run out of money, leading to long queues at those where banknotes are still available. But he stressed that the clients of the banks could help avoid such queues by using debit or credit cards to make purchases whenever possible.
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| Copyright © 2007 Agencia de Informacao de Mocambique. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections -- or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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