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Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa chairs first meeting of the ministerial committee appointed by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to ensure there are no shortages of essential items during the festive season. Secretary to the President Gamini Senarath and Treasury Secretary S.R. Attygalle are also present
Despite a worsening foreign reserves crisis, the Government yesterday said it is ready to provide essential items to the public without any shortage during the upcoming festive season with a Presidential Committee tasked with the job holding its first meeting yesterday.
Chaired by Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa, the Committee discussed many issues and initiatives to ensure essential items as well as those in demand during the Sinhala-Tamil New Year festival are made available in ample quantities.
“We need to ensure that all necessary measures are taken to minimise the temporary foreign exchange crisis impact on the people,” Minister Rajapaksa told the meeting, adding that in parallel the Government was taking required steps to boost reserves.
It was revealed that some fraudulent traders were selling goods obtained under Government subsidies at exorbitant prices. It was also discussed at length in making the import mechanism of essential commodities more transparent to ensure proper delivery of goods to consumers. Despite the shortage of milk powder, LPG, wheat flour and cement, it was revealed that there were sufficient stocks of all other essential commodities.
State Minister Dayasiri Jayasekara drew the attention of the Finance Minister that the same product is being sold at significant price variants from district to district, adding that it causes great inconvenience to consumers insisting for an immediate solution.
In response, State Minister of Consumer Protection Lasantha Alagiyawanna stated that the ‘compulsory display of prices’ law is not being implemented in the country at present. “Making use of the regulatory loophole, traders make it an opportunity to decide the prices of goods at their discretion,” Alagiyawanna said.
In response, Finance Minister Rajapaksa suggested instead of displaying the complete quote in all three languages, a system should be implemented to display only the essential commodity prices soon.
He also said that it would be more practical for the Consumer Affairs Authority (CAA) to set up a daily report on essential commodities in every district, which would help in identifying the anomalies in the distribution of imported goods.
Ports and Shipping Minister Rohitha Abeygunawardena, Secretary to the President Gamini Senarath, Finance Ministry Secretary S. R. Attygalle and other Government officials were also present at the occasion.
On Monday President Rajapaksa during the meeting at which the Committee was appointed, instructed customs to immediately release essential items held in custody for various reasons. The move was to minimise shortages. The President stressed that the people should be given the opportunity to purchase essential items including food without any shortage during the upcoming festive season and instructed the officials to make plans for this from now on.
He also emphasised that selected essential goods should be allowed to be imported and that goods should not be allowed to be imported in excess and stocks to be kept hidden to increase prices. The President instructed the relevant officials to implement a new mechanism to expedite the release of essential commodities including food to the market and directed the new committee to regulate and oversee this matter.
