Price controls trigger shortages

The imposition of price controls had already resulted in shortages of key products such bread, agencies said on Friday. According to AFP bread ran low in the Zimbabwean capital Harare on Friday, while shops in smaller towns closed after the government imposed price controls on basic commodities.

AFP added that one supermarket bakery in the city centre had people jostling for the last loaves of freshly baked bread, while another had sold out of bread shortly after business opened on Friday. The government said on Wednesday that it would impose price controls on most basic commodities, including bread, sugar, maize meal and cooking oil.

Manufacturers have criticised the controls, which cut the retail price of bread from around 70 Zimbabwean dollars (US $1.27) to 48.40 Zimbabwean dollars (88 US cents), saying it will kill the industry. "The proposed bread prices will render the industry unviable and regrettably, will lead to closures resulting in massive job losses from both the baking and milling industries," a statement from the Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI) was quoted as saying.