|
City boosts goods supply to calm heated demand
HCMC is opening more outlets to sell essential goods to meet the rising demand ahead of Tet and ease prices
Ho Chi Minh City authorities are setting up 2,088 outlets selling essential items to meet demand and keep prices down ahead of Tet, the lunar New Year, early next year when prices normally skyrocket.
A third of them are in traditional markets, Le Ngoc Dao, Deputy Director of the city Department of Trade and Industry, said, and are meant for low-income people, factory workers, and people in the countryside.
The Department will stock more rice, fish, vegetables and other goods in these stores which are yet to operate at full capacity, she said.
Nguyen Thi Hong, Deputy Chairwoman of the city People’s Committee, said businesses who signed up for a price stabilization program and received preferential loans have been ordered to lower prices.
If they increase prices, the authorities will consider cutting off their loans, she warned.
The city is also considering setting up a permanent retail and wholesale network to distribute food and other commodities, she said. For the last few years it has a stabilization program that begins a few months before Tet each year.
Supermarket chain Saigon Co.opMart, food company Vissan, and several others joined the program and are committed to supplying enough goods for Tet which falls in early February next year.
Saigon Co.opMart will remain closed only on Tet, February 3.
Truong Trong Nghia, deputy head of the People’s Council’s Economy and State Budget Commission, called for opening more such outlets.
Council chairwoman Pham Phuong Thao also called for increasing supplies, widening the distribution network, and a citywide crackdown on hoarding.
tuoitrenews
|
