Groceries order – Artificially high prices not justifiable

The anticipated boon for the consumer with the abolition of the Groceries Order has abjectly failed to manifest itself.

Instead of prices in the big supermarkets showing a noticeable decrease, the opposite, so far, has been the experience.

First introduced about 19 years ago to prevent small shops being driven out of business by large supermarket chains, the Government claims the order was anti-competitive, and that abolishing it would lead to lower prices.