Middle East fuel crisis keeps Mozambique fishermen ashore

MAPUTO
Dozens of low fishing boats lay anchored in flat waters off Mozambique’s capital, stranded for days as surging fuel costs kept their owners from heading out to sea.
Since the government hiked prices in early May because of the impact of the Middle East conflict on supply, many fishermen in Maputo’s quiet Pescadores quarter have not had the cash to fuel a fishing trip.
“The impact is dramatic for us,” said Carlos Nguenha, vice president of the local community fisheries council, as wooden boats bobbed idly behind him, some piled with nets.
“These conflicts don’t only impact those countries, they affect the whole world,” Nguenha said. “We appeal to them to sit down and talk so that we can overcome this.”
Nguenha’s council covers 1,800 fishermen and nearly 290 boats on the Costa do Sol just north of the city. Members are young and old and mostly family breadwinners, with no other work, he said.
Mozambique’s energy authority in early May increased the cost of petrol by 12 percent to 83.6 meticais ($1.3) a liter. Diesel rose by nearly 46 percent to a record $1.8 a liter.
While fuel costs are slightly higher in other countries in the region, the sharp increase, coupled with erratic supply, has hit hard in Mozambique, which was listed as the world’s second-poorest country in a World Bank economic update published in March 2026.
There have been massive queues at filling stations and some people have reportedly given up using their own vehicles in favor of public transport.
Its poverty headcount, defined as people living on less than $3 per day, is 81 percent and most employment is informal and low-paying, the World Bank report said.