After the regime announced the implementation of price caps on six high-demand basic products, the Cienfuegos government has detected that some sellers have shown dissatisfaction with the measure by hiding the merchandise.
A report from the official newspaper 5 de Septiembre stated that chopped chicken and oil are the products most commonly hidden.
This situation led to "a dozen forced sales of these products by the owners of the goods," noted the news portal.
The same has happened with other forced sales of agricultural products in some municipalities of the province, but mainly in the capital territory.
The website aligned with the officialism attacked non-state forms of management (FGNE) by stating that they justify prices based on "chains of illegalities and manipulated comparisons".
"In the network of foreign currency collection stores, a liter of oil is sold for 3.15 CUC, which according to the official exchange rate of 1 CUC to 120 pesos would be equivalent to 378.00 CUP," the report noted.
He emphasized that micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises, as well as other new economic actors, intend to sell the same product at a higher price, "under the argument of having to restock in the informal market," as the newspaper pointed out in its digital version, completely unaware that these merchants are obliged by the regime to buy foreign currency "on the street," due to the absence of a formal exchange market.
He pointed out that the FGNE must sell the oil at the approved price of 950.00 CUP per liter, which, according to the newspaper, would be converted into 2.76 MLC on average; otherwise, they would be "trying to formalize exchange rates developed by dubious algorithms and endorsing illegality."
The report also highlighted that, to a lesser extent, it has been evidenced that "there is a growing tendency to increase prices on other products offered by the same seller, trying to ensure, through their commercialization, the profit margin achieved with the capped products."
Therefore, the news portal, a mouthpiece for the regime, threatened: "this could lead to new abusive prices and require everyone to confront the traceability and legality of the cost sheets of the marketer."
However, this Wednesday Manuel Marrero Cruz, Cuba's Prime Minister, denied that there is a crusade against private businesses, although he did ask non-state actors to think less about their profits and contribute to society.
In front of the members of the National Assembly, Marrero Cruz made it clear that the regime does not plan to eliminate private businesses: "We are not here to shut them down," he said, according to a segment broadcast on the state-run Caribbean Channel.
However, Marrero defended the high prices of stores in Freely Convertible Currency compared to the established limit for State-Owned Foreign Currency Collection (FNEG), arguing that the state purchases from expensive markets with fewer benefits.
The official acknowledged that the prices in state stores in MLC are more expensive than some products they have come across; but he argued that "it is unfair to make that comparative analysis."
What do you think?
COMMENTFiled under: