COLOMBO – Sri Lanka’s phone dealers have decided as a group to reduce mobile phones and accessory prices by 20% as the rupee appreciates, against the US dollar, an industry association said.
Several business associations in Sri Lanka have announced price rises or falls by media conference, after apparently fixing them among the membership.
“The rupee appreciation was in the 20% levels. So we decided to bring down the prices of phones and accessories by 20%,” President of the Sri Lanka Phone Importers and Dealers Association, Samith Senarath told reporters.
“We have a considerable membership from Jaffna to Matara. We all unanimously decided to cut prices by about 20%. “
“When the dollar went up we put the burden on the people, and when it falls we will also reduce it to be fair.”
He said the price of an I-phone Pro Max 14 was about 475,000-480,000 rupees. Now it is 375,000 to 380,000.
“The I-phone Pro Max had fallen about 30%. In small phones, like feature phones, if the price has fallen by a big margin, you may not feel it.”
If market prices of some phones had fallen as much as 30% by market forces it is not clear why the association is trying to fix a 20% price fall.
In many countries competitors getting together to set prices is considered collusion, or price fixing and it is a punishable offence.
Several business associations in Sri Lanka including bakers and three wheelers have called press conferences to announce prices apparently fixed among their members.
After the last fall in petrol prices a three wheeler association called a press conference to announce that their members have decided not to cut prices below 80 rupee a kilometre.
-economynext.com
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