Business associations, the press and even the Minister of Industry and Commerce himself are against them, but price controls are back. The Ministry of Industry and Commerce, reportedly bending to political pressures, has resurrected the Department of Price Controls that on 4 March announced it sent to justice 26 shops for violating a recent government resolution that freezes the price of chicken, milk, rice and gray cement. After the price controls were implemented, the measure had an adverse effect on prices. Instead of going down, they went up. Nevertheless, a survey carried out by the Listín Diario showed that 71% of the 2,001 who responded to the telephone poll favor the measures adopted by the Ministry of Industry and Commerce. Minister of Industry and Commerce Luis Manuel Bonetti had promised to eliminate the Price Control Department and replace it with a Consumer Protection Institute.
