'Aggressive monitoring of prices vital'
KUWAIT CITY, Aug 15: Chairman of Kuwait and Middle East Central Market Awij Al-Ajmi has launched a scathing attack against the Ministry of Commerce and Industry (MoCI) as it has allegedly been dealing harshly with supermarkets to serve the interests of cooperative societies, reports Al-Seyassah daily.
Al-Ajmi opined the ministry has prohibited the supermarkets from opening food shops in private residential areas for the benefit of the cooperative societies. He urged the government to level the playing field to encourage fair competition between the supermarkets and cooperative societies. He pointed out Minister of Commerce and Industry Ahmad Al-Haroun seems to have forgotten the concerns of traders after his appointment to the ministerial post, even if he was keen on addressing these issues while he was still at the Kuwait Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI).
Claiming that the recent market tours of the minister are just part of media propaganda to project a positive image to the public, Al-Ajmi admitted that despite the exalted position he holds in the biggest foodstuff import and export market in Kuwait, he cannot identify any price control committee at the ministry. He also accused the ministry of supporting five foodstuff companies and closing the doors on other companies for the latter not to import the products brought in by the five companies.
Inflation
Al-Ajmi said the inflation in Kuwait has reached 70 percent, citing as an example the price of 100 kilos of ginger, which increased from KD 109 to KD 350, in addition to the 10 percent hike in the price of children's milk and the price of 50 kilos of sugar which went up from KD 4 to KD 12.
Meanwhile, citizens and expatriates are asking for aggressive monitoring of cooperatives and supermarkets as prices of foodstuffs and other items have unjustifiably increased, reports Al-Seyassah daily.
Asking the government to have mercy on those with limited salaries, sources said prices of commodities are glaringly different from one cooperative to another. Traders also confirmed that pricing is done on a trial and error method and that various outlets increase or decrease prices depending on certain conditions.
Hani Mahmud, a Kuwaiti man interviewed by the daily, said prices should be uniform at all outlets and added that he prefers to purchase foodstuffs from Shuwaikh Industrial Area as they are reasonably priced.
Singer Nazir Yagi said cooperatives exploited customers too much this year and noted that prices of many items are cheaper in supermarkets than in cooperatives.
Other people called on monitoring authorities to become more stringent, because people with limited salaries especially expatriates are inconvenienced.
Some others said prices of commodities are far lesser in Saudi Arabia than in Kuwait and they wondered why the government is protecting the cooperatives and traders and not the consumers.
Supermarket officials, however, said discrepancies in prices are partly due to recession and marketing strategies used to win over customers.
© Arab Times 2010
