Government cancels price control gazettes, introduces budget shop concept
Government’s attempts to bring down prices of essential commodities by controlling prices through gazette notifications has become untenable as importers and traders have been continuously increasing prices ignoring Consumer Affairs Authority (CAA) directives.
The state authority has failed to regulate essential commodity prices in the market by imposing and cancelling of price control issuing gazette notifications frequently pushing traders and consumers into confusion, commodity market analysts said.
At least six gazettes had been issued to remove taxes and introduce price control on essential commodities including sugar and rice.
But there is no place where such commodities are sold at the government-stipulated prices other than Sathosa outlets where they were selling at controlled prices, they disclosed.
Trade Minister Bandula Gunawardena has canceled all previous gazette notifications issued to control the prices of all such essential commodities in a latest gazette on February 8.
The Ministry has introduced a new mechanism to sell 27 essential commodities at fixed prices through CWE, Sathosa outlets and Q –shops.
The Treasury has infused a sum of Rs. 2.2 billion for Sathosa establishments as operating cost and to purchase essential commodity stocks to implement the budget shop concept.
It has purchased 15,000 metric tons of sugar from the open market immediately after receiving the money, Pettah sugar importers revealed expressing their dismay on the urgency of purchasing sugar by the state owned establishment.
The Q-Shop concept was launched in early November and the programme to set up 20 outlets countrywide to sell 27 commodities at fixed prices has not even started to bear fruit except at the shop in Torrington Colombo, traders said.
But consumer protection societies say that these fixed prices were much higher than controlled prices previously stipulated by the government.
However Minister Gunawardena noted that previous gazette notifications have been completely changed as per recent Cabinet decision.
The reason was the failure to sell essential commodities at control prices stipulated in those gazette notifications.
Government will reduce and maintain fixed prices of 27 essential commodities for three months starting February 8, subject to foreign exchange rates and any taxes that may be imposed on certain imported goods.
The Trade Ministry signed memorandum of understanding (MoUs) with selected local manufacturers and direct importers recently in accordance with a cabinet-approved price stabilisation mechanism, Minister Gunawardena said.
Ranjith Vithanage -Chairman of the National Movement for Consumer Protection, has vowed to lodge a complaint at the bribery or corruption investigation commission against this move.
He claimed that allowing businessmen by signing an agreement to sell essential food items at a price more than the government declared prices was amounting to a corrupt practice and violation of consumer rights.
State institutions such as BCC Lanka Ltd, the National Livestock Development Board, the State Trading Corporation and the Industrial Technology Institute were among the other signatories of the agreement.