Friday, 18 May 2012

DOHA: A high-profile inter-ministerial committee is being set up to keep inflation under check by actively intervening in the market and fixing retail prices of commodities and services.

The focus of the said committee which has been given initial go-ahead by the State Cabinet will be on putting price mechanisms in place particularly for consumer items of daily and mass use.

The idea is to make sure that importers and retailers do not manipulate commodity prices taking undue advantage of fluctuating demand and supply situations or due to shortages caused on account of problems in supply chains.

No retailer will be allowed to increase the prices of commodities or services even while there is a genuine reason for price rise unless the proposed committee has approved the move.

The apex panel is being established at the behest of the Ministry of Business and Trade that has within its jurisdiction a consumer rights' watchdog, and is to be headed by the ministry's undersecretary.

The head of the ministry's consumer rights' watchdog (Consumer Protection Department) will be ex-officio deputy chairman of the proposed committee.

It will have members -- in some cases, more than one -- from the Ministry of Municipality and Urban Planning, Customs Department, business and trade ministry and more importantly, from Qatar Chamber, representative body of the private sector.

The panel will be tasked with conducting extensive market and identifying commodities and services whose retail prices need to be fixed.

"The panel would be implementing the caps on pricing in the market with active help from several government agencies," Al Sharq reported yesterday.

The panel would also be studying and specifying which commodities or services need to be state subsidized, the daily said hinting that medicines that are quite expensive in Qatar are also likely to fall within the purview of the inter-ministerial committee.

The committee will have a secretariat-general and will be accountable to the Minister of Business and Trade with whom all the reports it prepares are to be submitted.

The panel will have the authority to listen to consumer complaints and take necessary action for their redress. Since traders will also be given due representation on the committee it would listen to their viewpoints as well.

© The Peninsula 2012