RIYADH: The Saudi General Authority for Competition (GAC) revealed in a report that it imposed SR35.2 million ($9.3 million) in fines during 2020 on companies that breached competition rules in the Kingdom, Okaz newspaper reported.

Cases in the past year include nine companies that were charged with violating competition law, complicity in tenders, abusing a dominant position, requiring subscription to other services and completing concentration without informing the authority, according to GAC’s website.

GAC, which is headed by former governor of the Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority Ahmed Al-Kholaifi, announced on Wednesday that it had approved the merger of 32 forex companies into one closed-stock company to help mitigate losses from the pandemic.