President Emmerson Mnangagwa on Friday said that the government will not resort to price controls but threatened businesses that are in the habit of increasing prices willy-nilly.
He also blamed the past 20 years of stagnation for the uncompetitiveness of local industry which he said now requires massive retooling.
Speaking during a wide-ranging interview on Harare-based Capitalk 100FM radio, President Mnangagwa said:
. . . what we wish, for the economy to grow, we must not prescribe prices to say ‘you have grown your orange, it shall sell at $2; coming up with a law in Parliament that it shall be $2 or this cup (which was in the Capitalk studio) shall be this much.
No, we don’t do that. The forces of the market must determine the price. There must be competition.
We need more people in our commerce and industry so that there is competition but to do that again, as a result of a partial history of 20 years or so, our machines are old; they are almost obsolete so we need to retool our manufacturing sector so that we become competitive.
On businesses engaged in wanton price increases, President Mnangagwa warned that such a practice will not be tolerated;
That is bad. The time shall come when we make the life of their businesses difficult.