In the keenness of the Ministry of Business and Trade, represented by the Department of Consumer Protection, to protect the consumers’ rights guaranteed by the Law No. (8) for the year 2008, on consumer protection, and with the approach of the holy month of Ramadan, and to protect the consumers from any unjustified rises in the commodities’ prices, the ministry, represented by the Department of Consumer Protection, had continuously worked, during the past years, to put forward several initiatives aiming to decrease the consumer’s burdens and remove the permanent obsessions accompanying the increase of prices with the approach of the holy month of Ramadan.
In continuation of this approach, the CP Department launched a number of initiatives as a way to alleviate the burdens on the consumers during this holy month, accordingly with the approval of the Council of Ministers, during its regular meeting No. (23) for the year 2011, held on 06/08/2011, on the draft decision of the Minister of Business and Trade regarding the fixation of a maximum rate for the prices of some goods and foodstuffs for the month of Ramadan.
The mentioned initiatives are divided into two parts as follows:
1- Reduction of the prices of two hundred and sixty-seven commodities at less than the cost price, noting that these items will be available at all the outlets all over the State, starting from the fifteenth of July until the end of Ramadan. Adding to that, these commodities will be divided into two parts: the first one includes food products such as vegetable oils, flour, white meat (poultry), milk, juice, frozen vegetables, pasta and other products that are increasingly in demand in the month of Ramadan. The second part will include non-food products such as foil paper, tissue paper, cleaning materials, and other goods of similar use.
2 – An agreement with Qatar Company for Meat & Livestock Trading (Mawashi) on the import of (20,000) twenty thousand head of sheep of Jordanian origin, to be sold to the consumers at affordable prices, noting that the company will, in its turn, allocate centers for direct sale to the consumer in the automated abattoirs at Mawashi Company, at Al Rayyan, Al Khor and Al Shamal areas, where the livestock prices are expected not to exceed the amount of (800 QR) eight hundred QR per head, for the weights not less than (35 kg). This step will go into effect in the twenty-third of July and a week before the holy month of Ramadan, and will continue until the end of the holy month.
It must be stated that the slaughter must take place immediately at the Abattoirs of Mawashi Company, in order for this vital commodity to access the target group, and to avoid it from being re-sold in the markets again. Adding to that, the meat will be sold all over the State at fixed prices that will be announced during the coming period and before the beginning of the sale.
The Department of Consumer Protection will be continuously following the commitment to these reduced prices, through inspection tours made by judicial officers from the Department. Moreover, a poster listing the reduced prices will be distributed at all the outlets in the state, in addition to flyers that will be distributed with the local newspapers before and during the holy month of Ramadan.
