Ministry signs price stability deal with 11 retail outlets in Qatar

Aiming to check unjustified price hikes, the Ministry of Economy and Commerce signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with major retail outlets in Qatar, reported The Peninsula.

The move is expected to ensure price stability of food commodities and non-food items in Qatar throughout the year. The MoU requires these outlets to obtain approval of the committee, which sets price caps and profit margins, before increasing prices.

Eleven major retail outlets, which have 97 branches across Qatar, have signed the deal.

The outlets include Al Meera Consumer Goods Company (41 branches), Grand Mart (10), Carrefour hypermarket, Lulu hypermarket, Saudi Arabia hypermarket (six each), Qatar consumer complexes (five), World Food, Megamart (four each), Family Food Center, Safari Hypermarket, Spinneys (three each), Food Palace (two), Al Rawabi, Grand Hypermarket and Al Safeer Center (one each).

Both parties have agreed to promote cooperation to ensure the price stability of basic consumer goods (food and non-food) which will be sold at a unified price across all outlets.

The MoU requires the formation of a joint team between the Ministry of Economy and Commerce and major outlets in order to ensure the effective implementation of the MoU and to maintain stable prices.

The ministry is represented by the Quality License and Market Control Department while major outlets are represented by those they nominate for the purpose of the MoU.

The MoU falls within the framework of initiatives launched by the ministry during Ramadan under the theme “#Aqal_Min_Al_Wajeb,” Arabic for “#the_least_we_can _do.”

The initiative forms part of the ministry’s efforts to monitor markets and commercial activity in a bid to fight price manipulation and protect consumer rights.

The ministry stressed that it will not tolerate any violations of the Consumer Protection Law and its regulations, and will intensify its inspection campaigns to crackdown on violations.

The ministry said it will refer those who violate laws and ministerial decrees to competent authorities, who will in turn take appropriate action against perpetrators in order to protect consumer rights.

Courtesy: thepeninsulaqatar.com