Retailers Warned Against Displaying Prices In Rand

Pauline Dikuelo | Monday December 21, 2015 15:07

According to the ministry, this amounts to unfair trade practice in which the Pula/Rand exchange rate differential is not passed onto the consumer as in most cases consumers are made to pay in Pula currency without taking the exchange rate differential into consideration.

The ministry’s chief public relations officer, Kediretswe Pule, said they have discovered this practice through the ministry’s quarterly business inspections while some were discovered through tip offs.

“The ministry has established that some businesses especially chain stores are displaying their merchandise in other currencies especially the Rand instead of the Pula currency. Most of these chain stores are those that originate from South Africa,” he said.

Pule said such businesses should stop forthwith as failure to do so may result in their trade licences being revoked which may lead to their suspension or cancellation.

“Once we learn that a chain store is not abiding by our rules, we give them a warning letter  indicating that failure to abide by the law will lead to revocation of their trading licence ,which might affect their business as they will not operate,” said Pule.

Pule further advised consumers not to accept paying for merchandise that is priced in the Rand or any foreign currency other than Pula in the country.