It is not practical to impose a control price for rice, Joint Opposition Parliamentarian Bandula Gunawardena said.
“Due to the absence of proper legal framework, such as an act or a commission to regulate prices of retail goods, the wise option would be to set a maximum retail price (MRP),” he claimed while addressing a press conference held on Tuesday.
He further added that the Consumer Protection Act currently in place facilitates the MRP to be set rather than the control price. “The current retailing price of rice is the highest it has ever been in Sri Lanka. Although a MRP has been determined for all varieties of imported rice, retailers are able to exploit this value due to the absence of a gazette.”
Gunawardena also claimed that the Minister of Finance should be held responsible for the depreciation of the rupee; which caused the rise in interest rates.
“This resulted in the customer receiving 16% of their fixed deposit and to be charged 20% of interest on the loans”, he said.
