The Fight for Liberty in Mozambique

The student movement for liberty knows no borders, and Henriques Viola is making that known with his efforts in Mozambique.  In an article (rough Google translation) published by OrdemLivre.org, Henriques evaluates the import restrictions placed on chicken by the Mozambican state.

This step was taken under pressure from domestic producers, who found themselves unable to compete with foreign producers, especially Brazil, Argentina and South Africa… However, regardless of intentions, the truth is that today it is more expensive to consume chicken than before.

After explaining how the import restrictions are causing increased prices, Henriques illustrates the negative impact of import restrictions through a narrative.  He used an example of his uncle Fernando, a potato farmer 1700km from the capital city of Maputo.

Before the import restriction, his family ate three chickens per week, which cost him 210 Meticais. But now, because he is forced to consume domestic product, he has to spend 330 Meticais the same amount of chicken. He now pays 120 Meticais more for the same product of lower quality.

Henriques argues that if families like his uncle’s were able to put that 120 Meticais to use via hiring more workers for the potato farm or purchasing other goods, the overall economy of Mozambique would be better off.  Like chicken, potatoes are a staple food in Mozambique, and Henriques’ uncle asserts that if chicken producers are getting protection from foreign competition, the potato industry should as well.  Henriques explains:

By that logic, so should the producer of maize, rice, sugar, cement construction, coffee, rice, beef, tea … and the list would be so huge that they could open up various departments to assist producers to write a good application to ask for protection their activities.  Soon the problem would be how to choose the areas of the economy that the government will benefit from protectionism.

If Mozambique aims for economic growth and prosperity it should embrace and participate in the global economy.

The state must work to create conditions that promote entrepreneurship by reducing the tax burden rather than doing so at the expense of reduced purchasing power of consumers, as this can lead to situations of corruption, conflict and other ills to society.

I encourage you to reach the entire text of the article (English).
The original (Portuguese) text can be found here: http://www.ordemlivre.org/textos/1087

Thank you, Henriques, for your continued efforts to spread the ideas of liberty in Mozambique.  Keep it up!