Speaking to Lusa, Bento Rafael stated that the number of cards, which emerged as a mitigation measure after the gradual withdrawal of fuel subsidies granted to motorcycle taxi drivers was announced last year, was very low, meaning that most of these professionals already paid for gasoline at the normal price.
This caused large differences between those who benefited from the exemption and those who did not, creating unfair competition, he highlighted, adding that motorcycle taxi drivers self-regulated by determining the price of rides in advance.
"They started to agree in advance with the customer", taking into account the point of origin and destination, said the Amotrang manager, highlighting that the existence of the cards "caused more problems than it brought benefits".
"We have been asking for an end to this for a long time, many individuals who were not taxi or motorcycle taxi drivers used dozens of cards," he told Lusa.
"The process was not well managed. The cards were used in schemes and did not benefit motorcycle taxis", he reinforced, without explaining how they were obtained.
Bento Rafael appealed to people outside the process not to create "moments of misinformation" against the measure, taking the opportunity to increase prices again.
The Government announced on June 1st last year, the gradual withdrawal of the fuel subsidy, which started with gasoline, but exempted some economic activities.
These included family agropastoral activities, artisanal fishing, taxi drivers and motorcycle taxi drivers, through the delivery of cards with a daily limit of 7000 kwanzas to cover the difference between the 160 kwanzas per liter that gasoline costs and the current 300 kwanzas.
The President approved on Thursday the end of exemptions, from April 30th, according to a decree published in the Diário da República.
The diploma justifies the elimination of this mitigation measure with "the need to safeguard the purposes and effects of the fuel price reform, prevent distortions in price formation and guarantee the sustainability of public finances".
In 2022, the subsidy on fuel prices amounted to around 1.98 billion kwanzas, corresponding, at the current exchange rate, to 3.8 billion dollars.
