> if he/she refuses to comply with a direction by the Authority to divulge ‘any record or supply any information’ requested.

I fully understand why this is there. As it happened to me, while I have in my possession a zero balance receipt, a doctor wants to charge me a lot of money to write a letter to my NHI doctor so I can switch my care to the public sector.

This doctor thinks I am required by law to be treated by him. But it is ok, the place is only 7x21, people will know.

these margins only apply for 3 months, minus the 2 past weeks.

then revert to the old ways.

And doctors and plumbers too.

I have noticed that too. The pharmacy owners keep saying 'profit margin", when it is really markup.

So they have to pay rent, utilities, salary, equipt, out of that 40%.

I do not know about the pharmacy business, but the grocery business operates on 3 or 4 % profit margin.

When you lower the markup you end up in the red.

But the greatest shortcoming of humanity is its inability to comprehend percentages.

BTW, the most businesses operate on 80 to 100% markup.

In Animal Farm , the cat was engaged to recruit. He did try to convince a sparrow, but that did not work out.

birdie is in the business of paid political influencer.

> Asked yesterday if he was concerned about potential layoffs because of the move, Mr Halkitis said: “No.”

I guess he is not concerned. The first layoffs will come from the smaller businesses, or, or, people will be asked to work fewer hours, and take home less money.

> How can the government dictate price control on goods that were landed weeks or even months earlier, freight, duty and VAT paid to the government on.

When the minor duty reductions were offered back in May, the merchants should have been given a headstart to apply any changes to incoming goods, which often arrive months in advance, and adjust their margins for the next quarter and have a chance to sell their existing stocks.

Whether the foodstores close or not, under the current state of affairs, one will see a drastic change in offerings, and we will all be soon eating the breadbasket.

Inflation on landed costs will continue, so now is the time to give the merchants a period to adjust.But the govt has to give something back, perhaps lower the vat to 5%.

Outside a pharmacy kiosk inside a foodstore today, I overheard some unaware patrons complaining about their inability to get their prescriptions.

If price controls swoops in at a food store, they will likely close ASAP.

There was a long period of preparation when shoe stores started offering duty free prices. Today, it is often cheaper to buy shoes locally.

More and more of the butter incident will happen.

I was going to comment. But the chicken drumsticks are getting cold and I need something to eat.