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Tribune News Network
Doha
The Ministry of Economy and Commerce (MEC) on Monday signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with 15 major retail outlets in the country to maintain stability of prices of food and non-food items in Qatar throughout the year.
The MoU is part of MEC's Ramdan initiative and aims to prevent any unjustified increases in the prices of consumer goods.
The major retailers who signed the MoU included Al Meera Consumer Goods Company (41 branches), Carrefour Hypermarket (6 branches), Lulu Hypermarket (6 branches), Food World (4 branches), Family Food Centre (3 branches), Qatar Consumption Complexes (5 branches), Saudia Hypermarket (6 branches), Safari Mall (3 branches), Al Rawabi (one branch), Grand hypermarket (one branch), Mega Mart (4 branches), Spinneys (3 branches), Food Palace (2 branches), Grand Mart (10 branches) and Safeer Market (one branch).
The signatories agreed to co-operate among themselves to maintain the stability of the local market in respect of basic consumer goods by unifying the prices.
According to the MoU, major outlets shall not increase the prices unilaterally. They must refer back to the committee responsible for setting the maximum prices and profits rates. The increase in prices must be in line with the principles and regulations established by the Ministerial Decree No. 8 of 2013 on foundations and controls of increase in the prices of goods and services.
The MoU includes formation of a joint team of the MEC and the major outlets to ensure the effective implementation of the agreement.
The team must hold regular meetings for better coordination and follow-up. The functions of the team include: promoting cooperation between the two parties to reach a long-term strategic partnership to achieve the targeted objective, taking necessary measures to support the stability of the retail market, communicating with all relevant authorities whether governmental or private to secure the MoU objectives. The committee must submit quarterly reports to the Minister of Economy and Commerce.
A number of signatories to the MoU have praised the initiative. Dr Mohammed Nasser al Qahtani, Deputy CEO of Al Meera Consumer Goods Company, said signing of the MoU is in the interest of the consumers to provide goods at stable prices.
For his part, HE Sheikh Khalid bin Thamer al Thani, Director of Public Relations of Carrefour Hypermarket, praised the ministry's efforts to preserve the rights of consumers.
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