Rishad Spelled Out Methodology to be Followed in Controlling Prices of Essential Goods

A meeting was held in the Ministry of Finance attended by Minister of Commerce and Industry Rishad Bathiudeen, Minister of Finance, Ravi Karunanayake, Minister of Rural Economic Development , Harrison and officials of the Consumer Protection Authority, Sathosa and Customs.

While addressing the gathering, Rishad said, that the President and the Prime Minister   have been engaged  and working hard to exploit all avenues to bring relief to the public in last few days. A Cabinet subcommittee too was appointed and working on it. India adopts a methodology to implement price control effectively and proved successful. We too have to plan out strategy   to implement control prices of essential items in Srilanka to benefit the public.

Once control prices on essential goods is gazetted and announced, retail   as well as whole sale traders will be compelled to display maximum retail prices of essential consumer goods. Any trader failing to fall in line with this requirement will be prosecuted. We intend to recruit 200 new personnel to monitor control prices and raid trade institutions selling essential goods beyond control prices. In a few days’ time, we have planned to raid suspected traders selling essential goods at exorbitant prices. Nearly 2000 to 3000 traders were ear marked for this purpose. We intend to make use of the electronic, press and social media to make our effort a success, he concluded.