ICCC cannot control prices of all goods and services: Commissioner Paulus Ain

Independent Consumer and Competition Commission [ICCC] does not have the power to stop price increase of all goods and services in the country.

Commissioner and CEO, Paulus Ain says "the price control function was done away 20 years ago, and ICCC was given the price monitoring powers to monitor shelf prices and check factors affecting price increase.

"Its main functions are to promote competition, regulate prices of certain declared goods and services.

"Many people think that ICCC controls prices of all food items and services including shoes, clothes, and others; this kind of perception needs to be corrected.”

The head of the competition regulator says, under the ICCC Act 2002, its main function is to promote competition.

With the current price surveillance exercise carried out by ICCC, Mr Ain says ICCC had sought government intervention to get extra powers to at least control prices of basic food items like rice, flour, sugar, and others.

This enables ICCC to monitor shelf prices of the basic items to be set within a 10 percent range and not above that.

"In the event where the shop owner wants to increase their prices, they have to seek prior approval from ICCC and only upon assessment of their [reasons] then we allow them to increase their prices," Mr Ain said.

This exercise now is to check the current shelf price against the base price from last year to ensure prices are within the 10% range.

The basic food items ICCC is monitoring its shelf prices are rice, tinned fish, tinned meat, flour, sugar, cooking oil, frozen chicken products, frozen meat products, soap and baby formula.