The Ministry of Trade and Industry, the Addis Ababa Trade and Industry Bureau and the Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Authority have formed a committee to investigate the surprising price rise in basic consumer goods after the Ethiopian Easter.
The committee suspects that there are greedy groups behind the inflation and launched an investigation. They will report the results to the public in a few weeks.
Over the past three weeks prices of meat, milk, Teff, onion, potatoes and tomatoes have increased dramatically.
A half liter of milk previously sold for 14 birr a few weeks ago jumped to 20 birr. Teff prices have skyrocketed to 4,000 birr per quintal from 2,600 birr before Easter.
Many restaurants have raised their prices in response.
Alem Alemayhu a dweller in Addis said, “it is a bizarre condition we are observing now, everywhere you go the food price is increasing and salaried workers can’t afford basic needs with their current income and the market is going mad.’’
Meat has risen by 80 birr per kilo while onions and potatoes have gone up 10 birr per kilo.
Kassahun Abera, Trade Inspection Head at the Bureau told Capital that the prices increase doesn’t make sense.
“There is no reason to escalate prices like this so we have begun investigation. We suspect that some greedy mafia like groups are conspiring to make a huge profit.”
The annual inflation rate in Ethiopia rose to 12.9 percent in April 2019 from 11.2 percent in the prior month, hitting its highest level since August last year. Prices increased faster mostly for food & non-alcoholic beverages (14.5 perecent vs 11.4 percent in March), bread & cereals (16.6 percent), meat (9.5 percent ), milk, cheese & eggs (13.1 percent); and alcoholic beverages & tobacco (14.2 percent vs 1.1 percent), attributable to the Easter holiday season. Meanwhile, cost slowed for housing & utilities (7.9 percent vs 8.9 percent); clothing & footwear (15 percent vs 19.7 percent); restaurants & hotels (12.5 percent vs 13.2 percent) and transport (15.6 percent vs 16.8 percent). On a monthly basis, consumer prices went up 1.8 percent, following a 2.2 percent rise in the previous month. Inflation rate in Ethiopia averaged 16.06 percent from 2006 until 2019, reaching an all-time high of 64.20 percent in July of 2008 and a record low of -4.10 percent in September of 2009.