Guinea-Bissau: Government sets prices for rice, sugar, flour

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Guinea-Bissau: Government sets prices for rice, sugar, flour

9:26 CAT | 22 Apr 2022

File photo: Lusa

The government of Guinea-Bissau on Thursday set new prices for rice, sugar and wheat flour to adapt to the situation caused by the war in Eastern Europe, the government said in a statement.

The measure, determined by a joint order from the ministers of finance, João Fadiá, and trade, Tcherno Djaló, said that a 50-kilogramme bag of rice would cost the public 17,500 CFA francs (about €26 ), a bag of sugar 25,000 CFA francs (about €38) and a bag of wheat flour 23,000 CFA francs (about €30).

Currently, there is price speculation for these products on the Guinean market, with rice being sold at 20,000 CFA francs per 50-kilogram sack, sugar at 30,000 CFA francs and wheat flour at 25,000 CFA francs.

Asked about these prices compared to those set today by the government, spokesman Fernando Vaz said it was expected “that there is speculation on the prices of certain products,” particularly sugar, which is widely consumed in the country during the Muslim Ramadan period.

“After Ramadan, I am sure that prices will return to normality,” the tourism minister noted.

Vaz said he understood people’s complaints about the rise in the prices of essential goods. Still, Guinea-Bissau could not escape the global situation, given the consequences of the war between Russia and Ukraine.

“We would be the only countries in the world that would be reducing prices in the face of the increased cost of transporting products. In a global context, it makes no sense to reduce prices in the face of the global situation. We are trying to contain a huge increase in prices,” Vaz noted.

Regarding the fuel crisis in the country, which has led to petrol-driven vehicles stopping and galloping speculation of prices on the black market, the spokesman for the Guinean government said that the situation would soon be overcome with the arrival of a ship from Portugal.

The minister did not know exactly when the ship carrying the fuel would arrive.

Vaz said that the country was “almost out of stock” of diesel and petrol but still had those products.

Source: Lusa