{"id":444067,"date":"2011-06-20T06:15:08","date_gmt":"2011-06-20T06:15:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/2011\/06\/20\/government-abandons-plans-for-food-basket\/"},"modified":"2011-06-20T06:15:08","modified_gmt":"2011-06-20T06:15:08","slug":"government-abandons-plans-for-food-basket","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/06\/20\/government-abandons-plans-for-food-basket\/","title":{"rendered":"Government Abandons Plans for Food Basket"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"Agencia<\/a><\/p>\n

16 June 2011<\/p>\n

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Maputo \u2014 The Mozambican government seems to be backtracking on its plans to switch from generalised food subsidies to subsidies that only target the urban poor.<\/p>\n

In late March, the Minister of Planning and Development, Aiuba Cuereneia, announced that the government intended to abolish the subsidy on wheat flour (and hence on bread) and on imported third grade rice. The wheat subsidy has allowed all urban ozambicans, rich and poor alike, to eat bread at unrealistically cheap prices.<\/p>\n

Cuereneia said that the general food subsidies would be replaced with a basic food basket aimed at the poorest strata in Mozambican cities. This basket (consisting of such goods as grains, bread, vegetable oil, beans and second grade fish) would be sold at subsidised prices to anyone with an income equal to or lower than 2,500 meticais (about 85 US dollars) a month.<\/p>\n

He said the government envisaged 1.8 million people living in Maputo and the ten provincial capitals as being eligible for the food basket. The major task ahead was to register all these people, licence the shops where they will obtain the food basket, and put in place a system for subsidizing these shops.<\/p>\n

The food basket system was supposed to come into operation this month – but there is no sign of it, and on Wednesday, speaking in the northern city of Nampula, Prime Minister Aires Ali even denied that the government had ever made such a promise.<\/p>\n

Cited in Thursday’s issue of the independent daily “O Pais”, Ali said that the country is stable and does not need the food basket. He added that the government is managing the situation in accordance with the evolution of world market prices.<\/p>\n

“If the price of fuel takes off tomorrow, then we shall take other measures”, said Ali. “We never said that the introduction of the basic food basic was certain”.<\/p>\n

“If prices shoot up to the point of requiring the introduction of a food basket, we shall introduce it and we shall announce it”, he continued. “Right now, the country is stable. There are no grounds for alarm”.<\/p>\n

In fact, several ministers, most obviously Cuereneia, did give precisely the impression that the government was firmly decided to alter the subsidy system. And when, in May, the government brought an amended budget for 2011 to the country’s parliament, the Assembly of the Republic, it contained a line of 335.6 million meticais to cover the food basket subsidy. That amended budget was introduced into the Assembly by the Prime Minister himself.<\/p>\n

The shift in the government’s position seems related to a belated discovery that the food basket will cost more than the current subsidies.<\/p>\n

“O Pais” says it has acquired a confidential government document, dated 7 June, which proposes that the introduction of the food basket should be delayed “in order to allow a deeper reflection on its costs, scope and impact”.<\/p>\n

For a six month period, the food basket subsidy would cost the state budget an estimated 538 million meticais (much higher than the figure in the budget). The current general subsidies would only cost 438 million meticais in six months.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, the administrative costs of the food basket system, including registering all the people eligible, would amount to 202 million meticais for a six month period, a figure which does not seem to be included in the amended budget.<\/p>\n

These high costs of the scheme may explain why there is no sign that any registration has taken place.<\/p>\n

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The wheat subsidy has allowed all urban ozambicans, rich and poor alike, to eat bread at unrealistically cheap prices. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-444067","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard"],"yoast_head":"\nGovernment Abandons Plans for Food Basket - Ghanamma.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/06\/20\/government-abandons-plans-for-food-basket\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Government Abandons Plans for Food Basket - Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"16 June 2011 Maputo \u2014 The Mozambican government seems to be backtracking on its plans to switch from generalised food subsidies to subsidies that only target the urban poor. 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