MINSK, 6 October (BelTA) - At a government meeting to discuss economic matters on 6 October, Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko criticized the practice of price increases under the guise of a line-up upgrade to bypass the anti-inflationary legislation and demanded to stop it, BelTA has learned.
The head of state said that he knows about the practice of bypassing the anti-inflationary legislation by raising prices of goods under the guise of new products. This is when, for example, a well-known product appears on the shelves, but with some minor additions and at a higher price. Often such “metamorphoses” happen to bread, milk, meat and poultry. “You see, there was bread and chicken, and all of a sudden there is a new product! Chicken parts are packaged and here it is – a new product,” Aleksandr Lukashenko remarked ironically. “And people are forced to buy the same products at a higher price. This is nonsense! A whole chicken costs Br2 for instance and a chicken in parts – Br5. Why is a two or threefold increase in the price? Is it because you have cut it?” he added.
“Don't the agriculture and food minister, the deputy prime minister, and trade see that?” the president asked. Aleksandr Lukashenko demanded effective measures from all responsible officials: ministries of trade, agriculture and food, regional authorities, State Control Committee, trade unions, and MPs.
"The shelves should offer goods of high quality, in a wide range and at fair prices. The so-called new products, if any, should differ from the old ones in their consumer qualities,” the Belarusian leader stressed.
