RIYADH, 25 April — The government has scrapped customs tariffs on import of dates and flour from the Gulf Cooperation Council states.
The Council of Ministers on Monday decided to abolish the 100 percent duty it had been levying on import of dates from the GCC countries. It also scrapped the 25 percent duty on GCC flour during the local harvest season.
The Kingdom imposed the tariffs in order to support Saudi farmers. However, the GCC countries have exempted mutually exported commodities originating in the member states from customs tariffs.
The government decision is expected to have a positive impact on the domestic market because the GCC policy of equal treatment will make Saudi exporters eligible for duty-free export to other member countries, according to informed market sources.
Saudi farmers stand to benefit from the new regulation as the Kingdom is the largest producer of dates and grains in the region. According to the latest statistics available, the Kingdom’s grain production came down to 2.2 million tons in 1998, compared to the previous year’s 2.3 million tons.
The Grains Silos and Flour Mills Organization produced 7,020 tons of grain in 1998. The dates production also fell slightly to 648,000 tons in the same period. The Kingdom exported a total of 25,300 tons of fresh dates last year.
The Cabinet also decided to abolish a precondition on owning real estate in the Kingdom by GCC citizens. Until now a GCC citizen could own property in the Kingdom only five years after obtaining citizenship in one of the member states.
Though the Gulf states decided in principle to allow a GCC citizen to own property in any of the member countries in 1999, the terms and conditions of ownership were left to the discretion of the governments in respective countries.
Makkah and Madinah are exempted from the decision and non-Saudis are not allowed to own real estate in the two cities.
