News / National
High mealie meal prices baffle consumers
27 Apr 2022 at 08:07hrs | Views
THE RECENT increase in mealie meal prices by 50% has irked consumers across Zimbabwe who are saying it has become unaffordable due to poor incomes they are earning while most of them are not formally employed.
The mealie meal retail price increase saw a 10kg bag of roller meal going up from $1 099 to $1 665, equivalent to US$11,10 according to the official exchange rate.
Most consumers said they do not have stable jobs and have huge families
Save Mlambo said the government must review mealie meal prices as a basic commodity as many families are starving due to unreasonable prices.
Grain Millers Association of Zimbabwe (GMAZ) chairman Tafadzwa Musarara said the decision to hike prices came after the Grain Marketing Board (GMB) increased the price of white maize by 50% from $50 000 to $75 000 per metric tonne.
"The new price structures will further push ailing Zimbabweans into deep hardship, considering that many are still earning salaries that are way below the Total Consumption Poverty Lines, amid research findings establishing that 49% of the country's population is living in extreme poverty," Musarara said.
The mealie meal retail price increase saw a 10kg bag of roller meal going up from $1 099 to $1 665, equivalent to US$11,10 according to the official exchange rate.
Most consumers said they do not have stable jobs and have huge families
Save Mlambo said the government must review mealie meal prices as a basic commodity as many families are starving due to unreasonable prices.
Grain Millers Association of Zimbabwe (GMAZ) chairman Tafadzwa Musarara said the decision to hike prices came after the Grain Marketing Board (GMB) increased the price of white maize by 50% from $50 000 to $75 000 per metric tonne.
"The new price structures will further push ailing Zimbabweans into deep hardship, considering that many are still earning salaries that are way below the Total Consumption Poverty Lines, amid research findings establishing that 49% of the country's population is living in extreme poverty," Musarara said.
Source - Byo24News
