The data was released this Tuesday by the Ministry of Finance (Minfin), on the same day that diesel started to cost 200 kwanzas/liter (an increase of 48 percent), as part of the process of gradual withdrawal of fuel subsidies.
Accumulated expenditure on subsidies in 2023, according to Minfin statistics, was 2.30 billion kwanzas, an increase of 324.13 billion kwanzas compared to the previous year.
In the fourth quarter, expenditure on subsidies totaled 938.56 billion kwanzas, an increase of 51 percent compared to the previous quarter and 102 percent year-on-year.
The Minfin press release highlights that expenditure on subsidies for gasoline and diesel showed the biggest variations between October and December 2023 compared to the same period last year, with increases of 53 percent and 129 percent, respectively.
Expenditure on subsidies for Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) rose 39 percent and only subsidies for illuminating oil, used for cooking and domestic lighting, recorded a decrease (around 3 percent).
Diesel oil rose this Tuesday at midnight from 135 kwanzas to 200 kwanzas per liter, according to the Petroleum Derivatives Regulatory Institute.
The price of other products, under a fixed price regime, namely gasoline, illuminating oil and liquefied petroleum gas, remained unchanged.
The Government decided to gradually adjust petroleum products to market levels by 2025, starting the process with the change in the price of gasoline in June 2023, which went from 160 kwanzas to the current 300 kwanzas.
The executive had recently noted that the increase would happen, although without advancing a date for the application of the new prices.
In an interview with Lusa, last week, the Minister of Finance, Vera Daves, stated that there was still no certainty about when there would be a new withdrawal of subsidies.
"I never said there wouldn't be [an increase]. What I said is that we were continually considering the best time for this to happen. And why do I say that? I say that because of inflation (...). Certainly [ there will be an increase], when we haven't decided yet", said the minister in Washington, on the sidelines of the 2024 Spring Meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank.
The process of removing fuel subsidies began in 2023 and continued in March of this year, with the removal of exemptions for taxi drivers, despite criticism and claims about the social and economic reality of families, who complain about the daily increase in household assets. basic basket.
