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There will be no
increase in the price of bread following the recent rise in fuel prices.
Such an increase would be unjustified as fuel and bread are not
directly linked.
This statement was
made by the Minister of Industry, Commerce and Consumer Protection, Mr
Ashit Kumar Gungah, during a press conference yesterday in Port Louis.
He underlined why the price of bread will not increase and elaborated on
the new prices of mogas and gas oil since 04 August 2017.
Mr Gungah
highlighted that the primary ingredient used in bread consumption is
flour and recalled that in the last budget, the retail price of white
flour has been reduced from Rs 5.85 to Rs 4.85 per half kilogram, that
is, by 17%. As for wheat flour, the price has been reduced from Rs 5.85
to Rs 4 per half kilogram, equivalent to 32%.
As a result,
underscored the Minister, professional analysts from his Ministry
examined the situation, while taking into consideration the price of
flour, salaries of bakery employees, gas and electricity prices and
distribution costs, among others. It was then that Government decided to
grant a 10 cent drop on the price of bread, he highlighted, and added
that an increase in the price of bread cannot be attributed to an
increase in the price of fuel and is unjustified.
With regards the
price of fuel, the Minister highlighted that the Price Stabilisation
Account fund of approximately Rs 2.1 billion, which helped to maintain
prices of mogas and gas oil stable locally despite increase on the
global market, was depleted in February 2017. As a result, the State
Trading Corporation, which was incurring losses on fuel consignments
during the past few months, had no alternative but to increase the
retail price of mogas by Rs 2.20 per litre (5.15%) and that of gas oil
by Rs 2.90 per litre (8.94%), the Minister added.
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