Bread price increases tomorrow (Wednesday) for the third time in two months to $2.70 retail price. This time the bread price will increase from $1.80 and just three weeks ago bread price was increased from $1.40.
The increase of bread price is due to the shortage of wheat in the country. Bakeries and grain millers have been importing wheat from overseas.
However, there hasn’t been enough foreign currency to sustain the demand leading to the bread crises in the country. In December last year, the largest producer of flour National Foods announced it would stop operating due to a failure to provide foreign currency to suppliers. Many industries closed in 2018 due to foreign currency shortage leading to the removal of SI 64 of 2016 by the government. The SI 64 was put in place to protect local industries which where crying foul due to flooding of foreign goods into the market.
However, the current situation has so far led to the free-flow of goods to allow the continuous supply of basic commodities.
