The Sunday News
Robin Muchetu, Senior Reporter
FINANCE and Economic Development Minister Professor Mthuli Ncube has said his ministry is going to engage businesses in Bulawayo to find out why prices have remained inflexible in the wake of measures put in place by the Government to tame inflation and speculative market behaviour.
He said in many parts of the country, businesses have responded by lowering prices of basic commodities on the back of a decrease in fuel prices after the Government put in place a raft of measures meant to restore confidence and ensure value for money. He said while fuel price discrepancies caused by distances were partly to blame for price differences, they were far from justifying the prices obtaining in Bulawayo.
“As a Ministry, we will continue to engage businesses to find a lasting solution and we hope that this will be sooner than later. Our economy is beginning to stabilise and this must be felt by the people as well,” Prof Ncube said.
He said one would expect a marginal difference in prices of a few cents because most Harare fuel suppliers get their fuel locally from the National Oil Infrastructure Company (NOIC), while suppliers in Bulawayo were freighting theirs mostly from South Africa by road.
“This is why you will find fuel in Harare marginally cheaper than in Bulawayo and this then impacts the prices of basic commodities as well, but not on a significant scale,” he said.
Basic goods like cooking oil have been reduced in Harare with a 2 litre bottle selling for ZW$2 999.99 while the same is going for ZW$5 499.95 in shops around Bulawayo. 2kgs of brown sugar cost around ZW$1 800 in Bulawayo while in Harare it was reduced to about ZW$1 579.99, a 10kg bag of roller meal costs ZW$4 200 in Bulawayo, and less in other parts of the country. Many retailers have been accused of profiteering at the expense of consumers.
Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory Authority (ZERA) announced their latest fuel prices stating that a litre of blend now costs US$1.58 and diesel costs US$ 1.74. However, service station operators in Bulawayo are charging as much as US$1.82 per litre for diesel, way higher than the average set by the energy regulator.
THE Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory Authority (Zera)
President of the Confederation of Zimbabwe Retailers (CZR) Mr Denford Mutashu said it was unfortunate that Bulawayo was not responding positively to measures put in place to stabilise the economy and reduce inflation.
“What the Bulawayo business community and surrounding areas must understand is that the measures that have been put in place by the Government are to stabilise the economy. The introduction of gold coins and the tight monetary policy measures should work on assisting that. We are of the same belief as the association that the coming together of the Government and the business community should get us to economic stability anchored on Government policies that must be supported by the business community,” said Mr Mutashu.
He said prices of basic goods like cooking oil and sugar have responded quite well to the Government initiatives and gone down. While he acknowledged other costs related to transport, he said there should be a range of about plus or minus 20 percent difference with other areas. But when those prices double or quadruple then there is an element of profiteering, he said.
“Bulawayo for one has a unique challenge that they may be manufacturing from outside the city so transport costs are factored in but on the other side fuel prices have been going down consistently for the past month which should not have a great impact on pricing. As a sector we need to ensure we remain compliant to expectations of consumers,” said Mr Mutashu.
However, Mr Mutashu said the contentious issue around parking fees in the Central Business District was also causing problems in pricing systems.
“Bulawayo again has other challenges that have been raised of late including the parking fees and shop licence fees by council that consumers have been crying about. So, we urge the regulatory bodies to also consider responding to Government efforts of stabilizing the economy and they charge accordingly so that consumers are also cushioned,” he said.
He said the prices in most formal shops in Bulawayo have seen consumers opting to buy from the informal shops that were fairly cheaper although most of them were selling in USD and rand.– @NyembeziMu
