Cuba sets ceiling for prices of farm products

Cuba sets ceiling for prices of farm products
Published May 03, 2016 EFE

The Cuban government - starting Tuesday - set maximum prices on select
agricultural products with the aim of protecting both consumers and
agricultural producers, state-run media reported.

The measures will result in an "increase (in) the supply of agricultural
products in high demand and their sale to the public at maximum
established prices," says the official announcement by the Finance
Ministry published in the state-run dailies Granma and Juventud Rebelde.

The maximum price levels will apply to vegetables, grains, fruits and
common items in Cuban cooking, including plantains, beans, cassava and
taro root, mangoes, papayas and pineapples, among other products.

The new measure establishes that "the maximum prices correspond to the
top-quality products, according to prevailing regulations."

To products of slightly lower quality, a discount of 20 percent will
apply and to those of third-level quality, a 40 percent discount, the
text reads.

The announcement emphasizes that the measure is connected to a
pronouncement made at the recent 7th Cuban Communist Party Congress,
where delegates discussed the ongoing increase in prices for
agricultural goods in a country where the median monthly salary is
around $23.

At the conclave, authorities decided that the country's top leadership
would not stand "idly by amid in the face of the public's irritation
over the unscrupulous management of prices by intermediaries who are
only thinking of earning more and more."

On April 22, the government announced a reduction of about 20 percent in
retail prices for a group of basic products, in particular food items. EFE

Source: Cuba sets ceiling for prices of farm products | Fox News Latino
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http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/news/2016/05/03/cuba-sets-ceiling-for-prices-farm-products/