For the first time, prices of essential commodities did not escalate even in the face of booming demand during the Tet Lunar New Year festival season in Ho Chi Minh City because of an excellent buffer provided by a well organised city price subsidised programme.
Le Thi Ngoc Dao, deputy director of the Department of Industry and Trade in the city said at a meeting on Friday that because of adequate stocks, prepared well in advance for Tet holiday season, prices of most essential commodities remained stable.
This is also the first year when businesses have joined hands collectively to adopt a price reduction policy and offer huge promotions on an assortment of goods, said Ms. Dao.
During Tet, the city had organised about 2,600 sale depots and over 300 mobile outlets in 24 districts of the city so that residents could conveniently access subsidised goods.
Concluding the meeting, Nguyen Thi Hong, deputy chairwoman of the city People’s Committee expressed appreciation of the efforts made by relevant departments and businesses in preparing goods for the Tet festive season.
However the number of price subsidised shops are still few in suburban districts, leading some traders to take advantage and increase prices during festival time. Hence, related departments must attempt to open more price subsidised shops in remote areas, added Hong.
She also asked the Industry and Trade Department to complete plans to subsidise milk and milk products before start of the new school year and report to the People’s Committee by early March.
