In the battle to combat unjustified price increases in supermarkets, Surinamese will be given the opportunity to report irregularities directly via an app from this week. It reported this to the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Entrepreneurship and Technological Innovation on Friday.
This concerns the prices of the 38 so-called basic goods such as sugar, salt, potatoes, baby milk, yeast and mouth caps.
The newly developed app is the Ministry’s answer to many consumer complaints about unrealistically high prices and expired products, but also about prepackaged goods with less content than stated on the packaging. The intention is that the Economic Control Service can carry out checks in the store on the basis of the reports and take measures if necessary.
The app also makes it possible for all customers to see at any time what the price of the basic goods set by the government is. Deviations from these official prices can be reported via the same app.
The poor economic situation and the associated unstable exchange rate mean that prices in Surinamese shops sometimes go up three times in a week. This happens because the vast majority of the food that Suriname needs is imported. As soon as the value of the Surinamese dollar falls, the importer will need more US dollars or euros to buy the goods. This is reflected in the retail price.
– .
