ZANZIBAR ANNOUNCED MEASURES TO CONTROL RISING PRICES

By Hamoud Said, Nation Correspondent, Zanzibar 

Zanzibar has announced measures to control rising prices of essential commodities, particularly low quality foods consumed by the majority poor.

The price control targets only imported goods since more than 90 per cent of the rice, sugar and wheat flour sold in Zanzibar is imported.

At a press conference held in Stone Town, the minister of Trade, Industry and Marketing, Nassor Ahmed Mazrui, announced the maximum price for the lowest quality of rice, wheat flour and sugar for urban and rural areas.

Prices set “A bag of rice, sugar and wheat-flour weighing 50kg of the lowest quality, will from now (Sunday) cost between Tsh52,650 for wholesale and Tsh80,680 for retail,” he said.

In rural areas of Pemba, the wholesale price has been set at about Tsh55,355 while retail prices range from Tsh1,120 to Tsh1,110.

In Unguja Island the price is better than Pemba as wholesale price for rice, sugar, and wheat flour is Tsh49,35; Tsh77,400 and Tsh48,560 respectively in Zanzibar town, while in villages wholesale price is Tsh50,350, Tsh78,400 and Tsh49,560 respectively.

Stringent action

Zanzibar town retail price should not exceed Tsh1,060, Tsh1,620 and Tsh1,050 respectively while in villages it stands at Tsh1,070, Tsh1,640 and Tsh1,060 respectively.

Flanked by the principal secretary Julian Raphael, and his deputy Rashid Saleh, the minister said the differences of prices in towns and villages were due to logistic reasons “particularly transportation”.

He said the government reached a consensus with main importers in Zanzibar after four months of consultations to rein in rising prices of essential commodities by having uniform prices, but the cost would increase or fall depending on the trends in the world market.

He said that the Zanzibar national consumer protection and standards bureau would monitor the business, and that stringent action would be taken against violators of the regulations including revoking licences.

In January, Zanzibar reported a decline in annual inflation rate to 5.1 per cent in the year ending October last year from 5.9 per cent recorded in the year ended September.

SOURCE; http://www.businessdailyafrica.com