Ecuador Govt to Control Food Prices

Quito, Jan 29 (Prensa Latina) Ecuadorian Agriculture Minister Walter Poveda asserted on Tuesday that the government will control the prices of rice, milk corn, banana, and wheat flour, to protect the citizenry.

Criticizing the excessive rise in basic produce prices, he stressed "we understand price and market freedom, but not licentiousness."

The minister complained about the "dramatic situation of farmers, with prices continuously decreasing; there is no market intervention, and the farmers go bankrupt."

Thus he defended state intervention, as a regulating entity to guarantee agricultural production and prevent, "prices from continuous rising" in businesses.

He stressed that the government seeks "to protect consumers and producers to save crops, preserve them properly, and have a sustainable exportable offer."

Poveda also questioned the proposal to internationalize the prices of produce, when "salaries are not internationalized."

The minister made the statements after a rise in the price of basic produce was called harmful speculation to destabilize the government by President Rafael Correa.