Minister acts to impose better control over commodity prices: Kuwait

The Minister of Commerce and Industry and the Minister of State for Youth Affairs Muhammad Al-Aiban issued two ministerial decisions to impose more effective control on the prices of consumer goods and food commodities and products, and develop direct and immediate solutions to confront the problem of price manipulation or any unjustified price hike, reports Al-Qabas daily In a press statement, Al-Aiban explained that the ministerial Resolution No. 99/2023 requires the establishment of a national database for goods and products to be regularly updated and stored electronically.

It should contain all goods and products manufactured locally or imported, along with their addresses, types and prices in order to activate consumer participation with all data of goods and products, and compare some of them with each other either in local or international markets. This rule will be simplified to enable the average consumer to analyze data, and ensure the ability to compare prices of goods and products between local and foreign stores.

The rule will contain an icon to receive all substantive and procedural suggestions from everyone, including the government and the consumers. This decision will increase the imposition of consumer control, as well as the supervision of Ministry of Commerce and Industry’s employees on the prices of goods and products in order to find any manipulation or artificial increase, through the integration of data between suppliers and distributors of goods and products, and between consumers. The ministerial resolution No. 100/2023 regarding the formation of a committee to regulate the items of food and discounted items for a period of one year aims to introduce the largest amount of basic commodities and complementary products into the supply branches at a price lower than the central or parallel markets by 25 percent.

The decision will result in the following:

1. Listing the materials listed in the ration card system in which the discount rate is less than 25 percent of the fixed price of the cooperative societies.

2. Obligating the supplier companies to provide the prices of their products to be at least 25 percent compared to the price fixed in the cooperative societies. In the event of non-compliance, the supply of their products will be canceled.

3. Taking into consideration the ministerial decisions that regulate the materials included in the ration card system, and making a recommendation to amend or cancel some of them.

4. Following up the study of market prices and comparing them with the discounted prices of food supplies, through the national database of commodities and products.