The Consumer Protection Office carried out a new price verification process in the wholesale businesses located on Gerardo Barrios Street, as part of the measures to benefit the pockets of salvadorans.
“We can affirm that the prices of food such as corn, beans, and corn flour, among others, are stable in the country. Despite the situation caused by storm Julia, we have found stability in prices,” said the president of the Ombudsman, Ricardo Salazar.
The official stated that the verifications seek to ensure that price speculation does not occur and to avoid abuses against the population. Mostly in basic grains such as corn and beans.
“We are intensifying our inspection work to determine the inventory levels that stores of different businesses have,” explained Salazar.
The official emphasized that they will not allow suppliers to profit from the need or situation that may arise in the country as a result of the recent tropical storm Julia.
Salazar added that the institution’s teams are deployed nationwide and verifying both the purchase and sale prices, as well as the level of existence of the products.
“All this documentation is being required and analyzed by the team in order to establish if there are conditions in which they are being abused through practices such as unjustified price increases and if there is hoarding of merchants,” added the head of the DC.
Salazar commented that, as part of the 11 economic relief measures, more than 106,000 verifications have been carried out nationwide by different agents of the supply chain, such as packers, merchants, and importers, among others.
The effort has made it possible to carry out around 290 investigations, of which 70 cases were presented to the Sanctioning Court and 40 of them were admitted.
In addition, he said that apart from corn and beans, products such as corn flour, wheat, oils, and dairy products are inspected.
On the other hand, the official made a call to Salvadorans so that they could report the abuses through 910 or WhatsApp 78441482.
“If you identify a warehouse or any irregularity in the management of basic grains, you can make an anonymous notice,” he explained.