"It was inevitable (the rise) as everyone said, but it should happen gradually, the last rise was very sudden and now there is another sudden rise of almost 100 percent, this cannot happen, I don't think it's right to do this kind of sudden increases", said this Monday Fernando Pacheco to Lusa.
For the well-known Angolan agronomist, the increase in fuel prices has "very serious effects on people's lives, on the trust that people have in the government and of course on inflation, which was a flag of the government with the lowest level in recent times".
"But that now there will possibly be a setback (in inflation) and this, once again, will remove the confidence of citizens, which is already little, we know that this is already causing a lot of dissatisfaction, some demonstrations on the part of citizens", he stressed.
The climate of dissatisfaction among citizens, as a result of the increase in fuel prices, he noted "does not contribute in any way to the climate of peace and harmony that I think is fundamental at this time in the country".
"It is not wrong to increase the price of fuel, from the perspective of reducing subsidies, which are very high and penalize the treasury a lot, but what is wrong is the way in which this increase is happening", noted Fernando Pacheco.
Since last Friday, a liter of gasoline has cost 300 kwanzas against the previous 160 kwanzas, with citizens fearing the increase in prices of basic basket products.
The Government announced last Thursday the gradual withdrawal of gasoline subsidies, maintaining the subsidy to the agricultural sector and fishing.
According to the Minister of State for Economic Coordination, Manuel Nunes Júnior, the rates of taxi drivers and motorcycle taxi drivers will be subsidized, with them continuing to pay 160 kwanzas per liter of gasoline, with the State covering the difference.
With regard to subsidies granted to taxi drivers, motorcycle taxi drivers and the productive sector, the also former adviser to the President, João Lourenço, said that the measure "could be correct if our country was organized".
"Our country is not organized, I don't believe this is going to work", he shot, believing in "scams" on the part of the beneficiaries of the state subsidy.
Because the reaction of the citizens "is to immediately think that the people who will benefit from the subsidies will try to find schemes to supply and resell at the normal price or even higher, this is the idea that permeates the whole of society and I believe that this will happen", he said.
Pacheco also considered that Angola needs "fundamentally to organize itself, in terms of institutions", so that other measures can be taken.
"As long as that doesn't happen, we are going to experience this situation of instability", concluded the agronomist, who is also a member of the Political and Social Observatory of Angola (OPSA).
In 2022, the fuel price subsidy amounted to around 1.98 billion kwanzas, corresponding to 3.8 billion dollars at the current exchange rate.
The Government will liberalize fuel prices, in a phased manner, until 2025, starting with the partial removal of gasoline subsidies, the price of which will be "free and floating" as early as next year, the authorities announced.
