Mozambique: Train reinforces service after 45% increase in diesel price

The Mozambican railway transport company CFM is reinforcing day and night services in the south of the country starting today, coinciding with the increase in fuel prices in Mozambique, which reaches 45% for diesel. In a statement, the state-owned Mozambique Ports and Railways (CFM) notes that “a reinforcement in passenger rail transport, through railcars, day and night,” will be implemented, covering the Ressano Garcia and Limpopo lines in Maputo province. “This measure aims to improve the capacity for rail passenger transport, reducing waiting times and providing greater convenience and efficiency in the services provided,” states the CFM communiqué, which makes no direct allusion to the fuel crisis currently affecting the country.

For several weeks, Mozambique has faced fuel supply difficulties, with stations closed across the country and widespread lines, as well as limits on the purchase of diesel or gasoline and a reduction in transport availability following the conflict in the Middle East. Starting today, diesel rises by 45.5% and gasoline by 12.1% per liter in Mozambique, the Government announced, justifying the upward revision of fuel prices with the rates practiced internationally. “For more than two months, the Government has been closely monitoring the evolution of the conflict in the Middle East and, as is general knowledge, this conflict has triggered a rise in fuel prices internationally and on the African continent; in the southern African region in particular, there has been a generalized price increase,” said the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Energy Regulatory Authority (ARENE), Paulo da Graça, to journalists following the Council of Ministers in Maputo on Wednesday night.

A liter of gasoline now costs 93.69 meticais (€1.23), compared to the previous 83.57 meticais (€1.10). The price of diesel moves from 79.88 meticais (€1.06) to 116.25 meticais (€1.54), illuminating paraffin from 66.86 meticais (€0.87) to 97.56 meticais (€1.29), cooking gas from 86.05 meticais (€1.14) to 87.82 meticais (€1.15) per kilogram, and vehicle natural gas from 41.11 meticais (€0.54) to 52.73 meticais (€0.69) per liter, according to the new price list now in effect.