Government working to lower prices of 51 food products for Ramadan

Economic Minister Fayyaz Ismail, on Tuesday, announced the government was working on lowering the market price of 51 different food products for the upcoming holy month of Ramadan.

He made the announcement during a press briefing on foreign investment at the Economic Ministry headquarters.

Fayyaz said the government planned on engaging in market interventions to lower the price of 51 food products. He said the government was currently engaged in arrangements to preorder shipments of the products and keep them pre-stocked.

He stressed that the government did not intend to intervene into the businesses of local business owners to impose price controls, but would work through the State Trading Organization (STO) to boost the supplies in order to lower the market price of essential products.

Ramadan is traditionally marked by a high demand for food products in Maldives.

One of the products which suffered a shortage and resulted in an escalation in prices during Ramadan 2019 had been the Kandoodhoo Chili, the chili grown in the island of Th. Kandoodhoo. The price of 1 kilo of Kandudhoo Chili had risen as high as MVR 1,200 during the period.

“From last years’ experience, we learnt that we need to have chili. This time around, we will try to ensure chili is available in the market at an affordable price for regular consumers. Even if it’s not Kandoodhoo Chili, but maybe Ceylon Chili. We cannot ensure low price of chili from a specific island. But we will ensure chili in general is available in the Male’ market at an affordable price,” said Fayyaz.