Nguyen Thi Hong, Deputy Chairwoman of the People’s Committee of Ho Chi Minh City, held a meeting on March 7 to plan for the price subsidised programme in the city for 2012 and for the period during Tet Lunar New Year 2013.
This year, the city will continue to subsidise prices of essential goods offered for the programme by 29 business enterprises. The city will also spend about VND311 billion (US$148 million) for its price subsidised programme.
Le Ngoc Dao, Deputy Director of the Department of Industry and Trade in HCMC, said that this year the city will continue to subsidise nine food items, which will be offered at lower than market rates, namely: rice, sugar, cooking oil, meat, poultry, processed foods, eggs, vegetables and seafood.
The programme will be implemented from April 1, 2012 to March 31, 2013.
The Department of Industry and Trade has already received registration requests from 29 business enterprises, an increase of seven enterprises compared to last year.
Deputy Chairwoman Hong has asked related departments to report results of the price subsidised programme that was implemented last year.
The city is determined to create favourable conditions to support enterprises participating in the programme. Businesses participating in the programme will be eligible for interest-free loans.
The price subsidised programme has become an effective price regulatory tool over the past few years and helped stabilise prices of essential goods in localities that earlier experienced speculation that pushed up prices.
