Price hike in West frustrates rural dwellers

BY ALFRED PAGEPITU

GIZO

PRICES in shops in the Western Province continues to change every week. A prominent man from Kolombangara in the Western Province, Douglas Saru raised this concern over the way prices of goods in the shops has changed within short periods of time.

“I am a regular customer and I noticed this change of goods price nearly every week.”

“We travel by boat to Gizo weekly and the current pace of inflation is becoming annoying,” he added.

“The increase of price is not in cents but in dollars and this cannot be happening overnight. This is robbery”, Saru said.

Saru is calling on the authorities who are mandated to carry out price control to do something about this matter.

He said this issue cannot be ignored. He said the price and control unit needs to do an urgent assessment. He said people in the rural areas have been neglected and struggle to make ends meet daily.

Residents from TC area also shared the same sentiments. They say responsible authorities from the provincial government must also inspect shops to check for business licenses.

They alleged that a majority of the shops currently operating within Gizo have no business licenses.

They say the price control team must seriously address these issues before it is too late for them to comply with simple rules under business ordinances of the Western Provincial government.

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