Supply Ministry to launch opening salvo in price-printing directive: The Supply Ministry will launch a “sweeping inspection campaign” this Thursday to monitor whether retailers are complying with a requirement that they printing prices on their wares, sources from the ministry tell Al Shorouk. Retailers who have not yet complied with the regulations could be fined and may see their goods seized by the government, the sources added.

What’s going on here? Food producers are required to issue manufacturer-suggested retail prices (MSRP) on their goods, factoring in costs of inputs, when they sell goods to retailers. Food retailers must print prices on those goods based on the MSRP. The Supply Ministry had issued a snap decision back in October that forced food manufacturers to print retail prices directly on packaging, threatening violators with prison sentences of up to five years and fines ranging from EGP 300-1,000. Industry players were up at arms about the decision, and rightfully so, since the supply ministry appeared to have missed the memo 30 years ago that the Soviet Union had collapsed. The ministry backed away in December from forcing manufacturers to print MSRPs on their packaging, moving the war on price gouging to retailers.

Could someone please go make sure Nasser’s tomb remains undisturbed?