PRICE control is not allowed in any form in a free market system, the Ministry of Commerce and Tourism said yesterday.
Responding to recent reports about high prices in the retail trade, it said the matter has been studied in a series of meetings chaired by Minister Nicos Rolandis and in co-operation with the island’s chief EU negotiator, George Vasiliou.
A written statement issued by the ministry yesterday said price control was not allowed in any form in a free market system.
“With the exception of fuel and cement, the prices of all other products, which used to be under the ministry’s control in the past, have been liberalised,” the statement said.
“Liberalisation of the prices of fuel and cement will be carried out in the next few months.”
The ministry said that price liberalisation and the adoption of the market system imposed by the EU have not caused prices to rise higher than the percentage of increases prevalent in Europe and other countries.
Official figures show inflation in Cyprus in 2001 was approximately the same as in the European Union, fluctuating between 2.5 and 2.8 per cent, compared with 1.8 and 2.5 per cent in the EU, the ministry said.
Inflation in Cyprus in the first six months of the year was 3.32 per cent, mainly because of taxes on cigarettes and fuel.
The ministry cited last winter’s supermarket price war, which took prices to extraordinarily low levels, as proof of market forces at work.
In cases where goods are sold at very high prices, Rolandis has repeatedly said that the market punishes profiteers, and he has urged people to avoid buying products from these retailers, the statement said.
The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.
