And so while the Bakers have settled for the 35 cent increase as only a temporary measure for them, the CEO of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food Security and Enterprise which handles price control today explained why they were unable to give the bakers the 75 cent increase they asked for:
Servulo Baeza, CEO, Ministry of Agriculture, Food Security
"I think on government's part, we try to ensure, to provide a safety net and try to provide or to keep a price that we feel that consumers will be able to afford. Obviously, nobody wants to see an increase in price, but in this case, I must say that it is inevitable."
"And we continue dialoguing with the bakers, because like I said, they are showing us, and certainly claim that really, they would want the need to increase it even more. But at this time, government was not in a position to grant that."
Government has still not made any formal official announcement of the price increase.
