(HERALD) State orders price slash
State orders price slashHerald Reporter
GOVERNMENT has directed manufacturers, retailers and wholesalers to reduce prices of basic commodities, including transport and newspapers, by up to 50 percent with immediate effect as it takes measures against the wave of unjustified price increases over the past few weeks.
Chairman of the Cabinet Taskforce on Price Monitoring and Stabilisation Cde Obert Mpofu, who is also the Minister of Industry and International Trade, announced the measures at a Press conference in Harare last night.
He said the business sector should revert to the prices as at June 18 2007 while its justifications for increases are being looked into by the National Incomes and Pricing Commission.
Cde Mpofu said the Government had noted with concern that manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers had unjustifiably increased their prices over the past few weeks without proper justification.
"Government is aware that these escalating price increases are a political ploy engineered by our detractors to effect an illegal regime change against the ruling party, Zanu-PF, and the Government following the failure of illegal economic sanctions. As a Government, we cannot stand idly while this situation continues.
"The Task Force on Price Monitoring and Stabilisation recently constituted by the Government is going to immediately take appropriate action against unscrupulous and insensitive economic players.
"This unruly behaviour is unacceptable and as such, Government will mobilise all the powers vested in the State to protect consumers."
A crack unit comprising all the security agencies has been set up and will work with the NIPC inspectorate to enforce the prices and root out all forms of corruption and economic sabotage.
Among some of the products whose prices have been halved are bread, reduced from $45 000 to $22 000, 10kg refined maize meal from $130 000 to $85 000, 2kg white sugar from $70 000 to $33 940 and Mazoe orange crush from $600 000 to $120 000.
The price of fuel, which had reached an all time high of $180 000 per litre, was slashed to $60 000.
Transport operators were also directed to appropriately adjust their fares.
Cover prices for The Herald and The Sunday Mail — the only two publications cited — currently at $25 000 and $35 000 respectively were expected to be reduced by $10 000 each.
Zimpapers chief executive Mr Justin Mutasa welcomed the Government intervention last night, saying the move should also be stretched to suppliers of raw materials, mainly newsprint and printing inks.
"We welcome the latest intervention in the spirit that the same will be extended to suppliers of newsprint and printing inks we use in the production of newspapers.
"These two are the major cost drivers of our costs and as soon as they lower their prices, the prices of newspapers will also go down," he said.
Labels: INFLATION, THE HERALD, ZIMBABWE
posted by MrK @ 4:00 PM
1 Comments:
This seems like old school communist price manipulation to me. Doesn't artificially lowering prices lead to an absence of goods in the shops?
But then I'm wondering - that will be true for a free market, but how about the Zimbabwe situation? At some point, hyperinflation is about the the fear of future rises in inflation. Plus, Zimbabwe as a market is clearly open to manipulation by international lenders, former colonial types who are still running the economy, and the few corporations that have been operating in the country since for a century.
So what is the real cause of inflation in Zimbabwe?
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