Conflict between merchants and government to reduce TB prices | Phalanges

Enas Shri wrote in the Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper:

There is contradictory information in Lebanon about the fall in the prices of basic products consumed by citizens, in the context of the fall in the price of the dollar against the Lebanese pound on the black market, indicating a struggle between traders and the Lebanese authority, which, through the Ministry of the Economy, is carrying out the tasks of prosecuting offenders with the aim of reducing the prices of goods.
While the Union of Importers of Food Products announced that it is about to re-study the prices of food products, and the Ministry of Economy toured the stores after requesting price lists from traders to ensure that prices were reduced , citizens say that the prices of basic products and basic materials remain high and that the decline has only occurred in a very limited group. Of these materials. The shopkeepers repeat that the bulk of the materials has not fallen in price and that what has fallen in price have been specifically specific types of cheeses, cereals and cleaning materials, in reference to the availability of subsidized food basket materials in more quantities than before.
The Director General of the Ministry of Economy, Muhammad Abu Haidar, does not deny that the fall in prices did not extend to all basic and food products, since some of them were “originally quoted on the basis of an exchange rate per dollar. that does not exceed 7000 “. However, in an interview with Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, he refers to the falling prices of the figure. Larger staples such as milk and cheese, which decreased by 8-10 percent, cleaning supplies by 12 to 18 percent, as well as meat by 50 percent, as well as chicken and eggs, emphasizing that most food products on the market are now priced on the basis of a per dollar exchange rate. It ranges between 6800 and 7000 lira.
Abu Haidar mentions that the ministry continues with its mobile phones to commercial stores and that these tours will intensify in the next stage, indicating that it had referred 67 merchants to the Public Finance Ministry, regarding intelligence on smuggling or monopoly operations.
The head of the Food Importers Union, Hani Bohsali, considers that the items whose price should be reduced have actually decreased, that is, those that were quoted on the basis of an exchange rate of more than 7,000 Syrian pounds. Regarding products whose original price was set on the basis of an exchange rate that does not exceed this limit. Its price is falling.
Bahsali notes that falling commodity prices require great stability in the dollar exchange rate, noting that when the Food Importers Union announced that it would re-examine the price of some materials, the dollar exchange rate was 6300 , and today it is around 7300 pounds per dollar, because the fall and the rise of the dollar are not based on an economic base that contributes to stability, but in an optimistic or pessimistic climate in which the trader cannot trust, since he wants maintain its continuity, and thus ensure that when you sell a certain product you can buy another for the same amount, which also ensures that the materials are not interrupted from the market.
It does not seem that prices in the market have dropped, and the vice president of the Consumer Protection Association, Nada Nehme, assures that you can never speak of a drop in prices with a drop in the price of the dollar, on the contrary, there are some commodities that they have witnessed a significant increase in prices that doubled, such as chilled fish, alluded to in an interview. With “Asharq Al-Awsat”, there are certain brands in a food group, such as cheese, that witnessed a very slight drop in prices, which was accompanied by an increase in other brands of the same product, as well as the case of cleaning supplies.
Nehme pointed out that, in addition to noticing the price increase with the fall of the dollar, the figures from the Consumer Protection Association clearly show the difference between the points of sale, reflecting the chaos in the markets and requiring strict control, explaining that the list of the Consumer Protection Association includes the most consumed goods and materials, which is a basket of 145 merchandise.