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FROM
CUBA
Cuba consumers grumble about price increase
of eggs
HAVANA, Cuba, December 8 (Adrián
Leiva, Grupo Decoro / www.cubanet.org) -
A steep rise in the price of eggs led to
loud consumer complaints at a cafeteria
in the El Cerro district of Havana.
Eggs, an important staple in the Cuban
diet, were selling at 2 pesos each, and
many of the customers said they remembered
clearly that Commerce Minister Bárbara
Castillo had recently said on TV that the
imported eggs in question would sell at
1.50 pesos.
Some even accused cafeteria employees of
engineering the price increase for personal
profit, but the establishment's administrator
showed them the order had come from above.
The cafeteria is government owned and operated,
and its prices are set by the government.
Still, consumers grumbled that the eggs
were selling at 1.50 in other areas of the
city.
Havana residents are entitled to purchase
8 eggs per month under the government's
rationing system at subsidized prices, but
most people want more. The eggs in question
here are sold at what Cubans call "free"
prices (meaning free of government control,
although the government sets the price)
and, at 24 pesos a dozen, or just under
a dollar, are selling for about 10 percent
of the average monthly wage in Cuba.
Versión
original en español
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