RIYADH: Customers and supermarket owners hailed the consumer price index (CPI) introduced last week, describing it as a measure that would help both consumers and traders.
The program was launched by Commerce and Industry Minister Abdullah Zainal Alireza under the patronage of Riyadh Gov. Prince Salman on Tuesday. The new index covers essentials like flour, rice, vegetable oil, red meat, poultry, barley, dried milk and commodities like steel and cement.
“Such an index will console consumers who feel the prices on basic food items and a number of commodities fluctuate at the whims and fancies of traders,” said Ahmed Hilmy, an expatriate who regularly purchases consumer goods to serve a large number of guests who visit his employer’s mansion.
Some prices in supermarkets in the capital are not consistent at all, said Hilmy, adding that they offer about-to-expire items at low prices under the pretext of promotion, jacking up the prices of other consumer items.
Abdullah Al-Ateeq, a Saudi entrepreneur who has a large supermarket in the south of Riyadh, said the new scheme would enhance consumer confidence to attract more customers.
Welcoming the move, a senior official from a hypermarket in Riyadh said it would benefit customers and will have an automatic check on prices quoted by suppliers.
During the launch, Alireza said the program was being implemented by his ministry under the instruction of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah and Deputy Premier Crown Prince Sultan who are concerned by consumer interests. He said the idea of a consumer price index was mooted on an initiative made by Prince Salman in 2008 in the Riyadh region.
Under the program, everyday prices on consumer items would be monitored electronically from major commercial centers in seven regions in the Kingdom.
He said the Commerce Ministry officials would personally visit commercial centers to check prices submitted to the ministry tally with their personal records. “Besides the daily monitoring program, a weekly index will be framed in accordance with data available in supermarkets in 27 provinces and six major regions such as Makkah, Madinah, Riyadh, Tabuk and Asir to find out about the market and prices.