Maputo government backs down on price rises

In the wake of recent violent protests in which 13 people died, Mozambique's government has pledged to reverse the 20 per cent increase on the price of water and bread. In addition the cost of a 25 kg bag of rice is to be reduced by 7.8 per cent.

The government has argued that it is difficult to keep food prices low due to the country's reliance on imported food; Mozambique grows just 30 per cent of the wheat it needs. Although figures released by Rome-based Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) reveal that this year's global cereal harvest was the third highest on record, a drought in Russia meant that much of the wheat normally exported by Russia was retained, driving up food costs worldwide.

Meanwhile, Mozambique's government has defended the recent increase in electricity as being necessary to alleviate some of the costs involved of electrifying rural areas and constructing a new power line in the northeast of the country.