(HERALD) Scarce goods resurfacing
Scarce goods resurfacingHerald Reporter
Goods which have been scarce have started coming back onto the shelves, as a sub-committee of the Cabinet Taskforce on Price Monitoring and Stabilisation is now working with industry to see how everything can be restored to normal and how viable pricing formulas can be created to ensure viability.
The sub-committee, comprising Cabinet ministers and business leaders, will ensure goods are available on the market on a sustainable basis.
The sub-committee will identify shortages of basic commodities and other essential goods and devise mechanisms and strategies to ensure their availability in the shortest possible time on a sector-by-sector basis.
Sources close to the Cabinet taskforce said the sub-committee seeks to work out a coherent short-to-medium term macro-economic recovery package as an integral component of the ongoing price stabilisation measures.
They said the sub-committee would determine appropriate pricing models for essential commodities that would guarantee business viability and affordability of the commodities for consideration by the National Incomes and Pricing Commission.
The sources said the sub-committee would ensure that costs are genuine and that there is no "padding" of costs throughout the value chain.
The sub-committee will also agree on smooth implementation of three protocols signed by the social partners — Government, business and labour — with particular focus on the Incomes and Price Stabilisation Protocol and the Foreign Currency Management Protocol.
It will identify the obligations of the two main social partners — Government and business — on pricing and see how these stakeholders’ obligations can be made enforceable.
The sub-committee will also facilitate the establishment of the public-private sector mechanisms to resolve pricing conflicts and create a platform for the provision of sectoral production plans.
The sources said it would develop and oversee implementation of a coherent short-to-medium term macro-economic stabilisation policy framework anchored on the principles of self-reliance, empowerment and preservation of national sovereignty.
The formation of the sub-committee — which comprises leading businessmen from industry and commerce — comes a week after President Mugabe met the business leaders.
Government has reiterated its position that there is no going back on the war on prices and has urged manufacturers to supply goods to retailers, failure of which they risk having their businesses taken over by the State.
The supply of goods in shops has significantly improved with most outlets in Harare now receiving stocks from manufacturers.
Most goods, particularly basic commodities, had disappeared from shelves following the Government’s crackdown on errant businesspeople.
Supply has also been outstripped by demand as the majority can now afford to buy after Government directed all manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers to freeze price of goods and services to the pre-June 18 levels.
In a snap survey in the central business district yesterday, most supermarkets had stocks of goods including maize meal, margarine, bathing soap, washing powder, shoe polish and toilet paper.
TM, OK, Spar and Friendly chain supermarkets were among shops where goods were readily available.
A manager at TM, who declined to be named, said the supermarket chain was receiving supplies but because of panic buying the goods were quickly running out.
"People are still hoarding goods so once we put products on shelves they quickly run out. As you can see, today we had maize meal but it has already run out," the manager said.
An official in the buying department at OK Zimbabwe said they had placed orders as usual and supplies had started to improve.
"Although the supplies are still erratic, our suppliers have promised to deliver more products soon," the manager said.
He, however, noted that the supply of cooking oil, sugar, and Mazowe Orange Crush was still erratic.
Other supermarkets, including Batanai, Gutsai and Food World, had stocks.
Meanwhile, a Kadoma-based company, Macsherp (Private) Limited, has started distributing 25 tonnes of mealie-meal and 20 dozen loaves of bread per day in the town to avert hoarding, which is creating shortages.
The mealie-meal and bread are being distributed in the town’s 15 wards and sold at the Government-recommended prices.
Bread is being sold at $22 000 a loaf and 10kg of roller meal is going for $41 000.
Macsherp managing director Mr Clifford Mukungunugwa said by taking the products to the wards, the company was trying to eradicate hoarding by flooding the market.
Labels: PRICING, THE HERALD, ZIMBABWE
posted by MrK @ 10:19 PM
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