Shenzhen's supply of staple food items such as grain, oil, eggs and meat have remained sufficient at the moment, according to municipal authorities.
Vegetable prices rose by 4.1 percent Monday compared to the same period last week, while pork, egg, rice and edible oil prices remained largely unchanged, Qin Shijie, a municipal development and reform commission official, said at a press conference yesterday.
Qin called on citizens not to believe or spread rumors and should consume rationally on the premise of ensuring a normal life.
According to Qin, the municipal development and reform commission has started an emergency price monitoring mechanism to implement daily monitoring and reports on critical household commodities.
The commission has kept track of real-time food price changes both online and offline. It has also worked with market supervision authorities to strengthen law enforcement and investigate and deal with illegal activities such as hoarding, falsifying and spreading price increase information, as well as price gouging.
The commission has also enhanced the linking mechanism between social assistance standards and price hikes, paid close attention to the city’s consumer price index (CPI) increase, and made preparations for the distribution of temporary subsidies in order to secure the basic living of people in need.
According to Qin, once the conditions are met, the commission, together with the municipal civil affairs bureau, human resources and social security bureau, veteran affairs bureau, and all districts, new area and special cooperation zone, will jointly grant interim subsidies to ensure that low-income groups’ living standards do not suffer as a result of rising costs.