Price decline during Ramadan reflects success of consumer protection initiatives: Ministry

Doha: The Ministry of Commerce and Industry said today that the decrease in the consumer price index, especially the decline in food and beverage prices during Ramadan, reflected the success of its initiatives to ease some of the burden off consumers and protect them from unjustified price increases in consumer goods.

This came in a report by the Ministry that highlighted the data of the consumer price index during Ramadan for the year 1441 AH issued by the Planning and Statistics Authority for the period between April 23 and May 24 last.

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) clearly showed the changes in consumer goods prices that witnessed a downward trend from March of this year, and further decreased during Ramadan 1441 AH corresponding to the period (April 23 – May 24, 2020), the Ministry pointed out.

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) included 12 major groups, such as food and beverage, which is considered one of the most important groups in this report, as it constitutes 13.45 percent of total family spending and includes various goods that fall within Ramadan commodities and constitute 13 percent of the total basket, with about 557 products.

The report pointed to the decline in basic food prices in May, as the meat group index fell from 105.65 in March to about 101.97 in May. While the index of fish and seafood group decreased from 85.89 to 75.76, the fruit group from 100.86 to 100.75 and the vegetable group from 99.93 to 97.12 during the mentioned period.

During the same period, the cereal group index declined from 101.44 to 96.92, while the group prices for milk, cheese and eggs decreased from 101.72 to 95.64, and the prices of spices, salt and pickles fell from 101.74 to 100.36.

The Ministry of Commerce and Industry affirmed that these data reflect the efforts made during the holy month of Ramadan of the year 1441 AH through a number of important decisions that fall within the series of Ramadan initiatives for each year. Among the most prominent initiatives are the joint national initiative between the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, the Ministry of Municipal and Environment, and Widam Food Company, to promote local production of sheep meat and to subsidize the prices for the month of Ramadan 1441 AH, to ensure the availability of sheep meat for citizens during Ramadan at reasonable prices, and to control prices, taking into account the balance between supply and demand in the markets.

The Ministry also launched in the mentioned period the initiative of the list of reduced consumer goods for the month of Ramadan in 2020, which included more than 500 commodities with the aim of providing basic consumer goods at reduced prices to citizens and residents, in addition to intensive inspection campaigns to monitor the markets.

In parallel with this, the Ministry was keen on following up and updating the levels of strategic stocks of food and consumer goods and estimating their production and consumption and the needs of the state. In addition to studying suppliers requests to increase the prices of goods and services and preparing a list in this regard, in order to determine the proposed increase and profit rates in proportion to the purchasing power of the consumer.