Price Gouging Task Force Takes Action to Curb Unfair Store Pricing

The Ministry of Agriculture’s Price Gouging Task Force continues to monitor store prices across the country after penalizing several business owners. Following GOB’s establishment of legislation to tackle price gouging, the unit has been working to crack down on stores intentionally hiking prices. According to Minister of Food Security and Enterprise, Jose Abelardo Mai, more has been done to arrest the issue in the past weeks than in the past decade.

Jose Abelardo Mai, Minister of Agriculture: “Our people are on the ground, boots on the ground visiting the stores and issuing tickets when there is a case to be dealt with they issue tickets.”

Reporter: You have any information of how much businesses have been ticketed until now ? 

Jose Abelardo Mai, Minister of Agriculture: “The last time I heard I think they had issued like fourteen or fifteen tickets in two weeks. In the past I think in eight or nine years we’ve taken like four people to court and lost three, something like that because the system was a very weak system. Today we’re more effective and listen to me the moment you give one ticket to one store that’s it you know ? The rest start to fall into line.”

Mai added that any store owner found guilty of repeated offenses may be shut down.