Third stimulus | Gov’t promises close scrutiny of price hikes, unlawful commercial practices

The economic authorities will closely monitor and control price hikes and other potentially unlawful commercial practices during the implementation of the third round of government stimulus (e-vouchers), the director of the Economic and Technological Development Bureau (DSEDT), Tai Kin Ip said during yesterday’s press conference to announce the amended plan.
According to Tai, following the experience gathered primarily during the first phase of the government support last year, the Consumer Council (CC) will be paying close attention to unjustified price hikes as well as other unlawful practices that might arise during the implementation of the third round, due to occur between June and December this year.
According to Tai, the CC and the DSEDT will conduct “constant inspections, supervision and control activities over the situations of usage of the consumption benefits [e-vouchers] as well as the prices [of] goods and services in the market.”
Tai also said that in the past, authorities inspected over 6,000 establishments and over 60,000 products. Additionally, the CC has a system that allows citizens to immediately report cases of price hikes or unlawful practices through the CC website or dedicated hotline.
The director called on residents to follow the rules, recalling that the government subsidy cannot be converted into cash nor used for the payment of services such as water and electricity bills, or any kind of health-related services.