In reaction to the high cost of food commodities, the Ivorian government has decided to reduce import taxes applied on certain categories of food. The announcement was made yesterday by government spokesperson Bruno Kone. Providing details, Fraternite Matin (p. 5) noted that the decision taken in the course of a cabinet meeting chaired yesterday by President Alassane Ouattara aims at stabilizing the rising prices of staple foods including meat, tomatoes, rice and sugar. The measure, according to Mr. Kone, will be followed by actions to streamline basic commodity supply chains and initiatives to boost local production.
Le Patriote (p. 10) highlighted that the government committed also to fighting smuggling in a bid to curb inflation. However for L'Intelligent d'Abidjan (p. 7) which carried a skeptical report on the move, such measures have already been taken in the past with mixed results on the ground.
...