JEDDAH: Importers of rice into the Kingdom are no longer to receive subsidies from the Ministry of Finance starting next month, Al-Watan newspaper reported.
“The decision has been welcomed by local importers who have promised not to increase prices dramatically,” said an official at the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, which has informed all of the Kingdom’s main rice importers.
He added that the subsidy — amounting to SR1,000 for each metric ton of rice — is being canceled because the current local market has not benefited from it.
Abdulaziz Mahrous, a local importer, said local distributors and importers try their best to sell products at reasonable prices. “We work on delivering the products to consumers at fair prices with reasonable profit,” he said.
Yousuf Al-Maimani, a member of the Economic Committee at the Shoura Council, said the decision comes at a time when prices are consistently increasing due to the international food crisis.
“But the subsidies are no longer required now that prices have come down,” said Al-Maimani.
In Dec. 2007, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah personally intervened in the Kingdom’s war on inflation, ordering the government to pay subsidies on two major food items to ease consumer concerns about rising costs.
