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Government and Importing companies agreed to normalize rice prices in Timor-Leste

Government and Importing companies agreed to normalize rice prices in Timor-Leste

Rice is unloaded from a cargo hold in Dili. (Image/Antonio Daciparu)

DILI, 29 september 2023 (TATOLI) – The government, together with importing companies, has agreed to normalize the price of rice in the market across Timor- Leste.

The soaring price of rice has become a complaint for all Timorese people, so through a Council of Ministers meeting, the Prime Minister directed the relevant ministers to work quickly to resolve this problem.

Deputy Prime Minister and Coordinating Minister for Social Affairs Mariano Assanami, Minister of Transport and Telecommunications Miguel Manetelu, and Minister of Trade and Industry (MoTI) Nino Pereira carried out instructions from the Head of Government to hold a meeting with importing companies to discuss the issue.

After the meeting, Minister Nino Pereira said that over the last few months, this issue has become controversial, especially regarding the very high food prices. Therefore, the government, with its quick decision to normalize rice prices in Timor-Leste,

“The Prime Minister gave instructions for the next three days to the Ministry of Trade and Industry, and the decision was seen as important for us to discuss the situation. Therefore, we have met with the two Deputy Prime Ministers and importing companies to conduct coordination and cooperation on how to ensure that the price of rice will be normalized and existing stocks will be able to meet rice consumption needs on the national market,” Nino Pereira told reporters after a meeting at the Government Palace in Dili.

Thus, in the near future, the President of the Republic, Ramos Horta, will establish a subsidy law for importing companies in order for the government to take action to guarantee low prices throughout the region, starting at $0.50 per kilogram and 25 kg with a price of $12.

“We already have an agreement with the importing company. They all committed to making interventions to stabilize the price of rice in our country,” he explained.

This agreement stipulates that the government will provide a subsidy of $500 for every 25kg load of rice and will support through National Logistic Center (CLN) channels to facilitate the delivery of rice to municipalities.

Therefore, the staff of the Ministry of Trade and Industry in each municipality will collect data on companies that regularly sell rice for one to two days in order to apply subsidies until the rice prices return to normal.

Journalist: Camilio de Sousa
Editor: Rafael Ximenes de A. Belo

 

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