Prices of essential items could drop with Govt intervention- Johnston

by L. S. Ananda WEDAARACHCHI

The Government should intervene in the import of essential items as prices could be reduced by about 15 percent, said Cooperatives and Internal Trade Minister Johnston Fernando.

The cutoff point of the prices should be decided on by the public sector and it should not continue to be the monopoly of the private sector. “Sathosa, the government’s main trading arm should take over the import of food items”, he said.

Referring to the cooperative sector, the minister said that the 234 cooperative societies in the country would be linked to Copnet, a computer network. This would help reduce fraud and corrupt practices in cooperative societies, the minister said. The minister said that the 196th Laksathosa retail outlet was opened in Kilinochchi and more Laksathosa retail outlets will be opened soon especially in liberated areas in the North and the East.

He said that two other Laksathosa outlets will be opened in the Mannar district within the next few weeks and the target is to open 400 Laksathosa outlets by the end of the year.