The Minister of Finance, Herbert Murerwa, on Monday said the Zimbabwean government must dump price controls and allow market forces to determine prices of goods.

In submissions made before the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Budget and Finance, the minister said price controls were not helpful to the country.

"We should move away from price controls. They do not help. It is some of these policies that are creating additional distortions.We are in a globalized village. There is no country that tinkers with this kind of thing," Murerwa said.

He said the price control of goods such as bread has seen firms facing viability problems and closing shop or in some instances producing the goods, but off-loading them on the black market.

Price controls were introduced by the government in 2003 as a measure aimed at stemming unprecedented price increases.

The Consumer Council of Zimbabwe said at same day that it was concerned that the lifting of price controls at this stage may impact negatively on the consumer.

Last month, the price of bread shot up by 122.2 percent, fresh milk by 71.4 percent, cooking oil by 59.6 percent, rent by 20 percent, while health and education costs rose by 9 percent.

Source: Xinhua