The procedures and measures taken by the government will bring back the prices of vegetables to their “normal and reasonable level in the coming days or weeks,” said Mezzour in a statement to the press after a high-level inter-ministerial meeting to monitor market supply and prices.
The government “is aware of the situation of the citizen,” he said, stressing that all parties concerned are mobilized to intervene strictly against any person who tries to manipulate prices and to limit unacceptable behavior.
In addition, the executive has taken steps to import 200,000 head of cattle in the coming months, of which 30,000 will be received before the month of Ramadan, he said, noting that “the decline in prices would be evident during these last days”.
At the beginning of the Council of Government’s meeting held on Thursday, the Head of Government, Aziz Akhannouch, called to increase control of the state of supply of food markets in the Kingdom, to strengthen the monitoring of distribution and quality and to track down and punish the perpetrators of any violation or opportunistic behavior.
Also, the Head of Government underlined that the production campaign of vegetables and tomatoes this year has reached a good level, attributing the recent rise in prices of tomatoes to the cold wave that is currently experiencing the Kingdom.
Akhannouch said it is expected that “tomato prices will record, during the next few weeks, a decline with the return of milder temperatures, which will contribute to the maturity of national crops and their availability on the markets”.
For his part, Minister Delegate for Relations with Parliament, Government Spokesman Mustapha Baitas said, at a press briefing after the meeting, that the executive “will take all measures to lower prices and will control all outlets to preserve the purchasing power of citizens and ensure the normal supply of markets”.
