Minister of Trade Mark Katsonga says his ministry is investigating reports of sabotage by big retail stores over rise in prices of goods.

According to Katsonga, his ministry has been informed that prices of some goods have been mainly increased in big retail stores compared to shops in rural areas where he argues that the prices have not increased that much.

He was speaking in Lilongwe at a press briefing this morning under the banner Government Faces the Press.

Responding to a question on short term solutions government is taking on rise of prices of goods, Katsonga said government has been engaging manufacturers of various products to see what government can do to support them.

He added that Government is also looking at prices of raw materials outside Malawi and comparing to the prices of the products made from those raw materials.

“We are also investigating sabotage because we picked information that the price rises are mainly in big retail stores while in the rural areas the prices, they are going up yes, but are not as bad.

“We are doing surveys to ascertain if the prices rises are justified.,” said Katsonga

He, however, noted that government cannot dictate prices but it can negotiate, caution and use fair trading and competition laws to investigate prices.

“If certified that the price rise is genuine, there is little we can do,” he said.

Katsonga said his ministry has started giving licenses to businesspersons to import cooking oil in order to control the rise in price of the product.

In his remarks, Minister of Information and Digitisation, Gospel Kazako warned that government can start manufacturing cooking oil in order to bring sanity in the industry.

At the same press briefing, Katsonga cited Covid-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war as some of factors that have contributed to the rise in prices of different commodities in the country.

“Prices of essential products have risen to the dismay affecting a lot of Malawians who have little capacity to survive. However, this is not our making, it is something that has affected the whole world,” said Katsonga.

On medium to long term solutions, he said government has signed agreements with companies to start manufacturing different products in the country such as cement, fertilizer and cooking oil, among others, in order to ensure that prices are affordable.

“We are working with companies in Germany to start making cement,” he said.

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