The Ministry of Commerce in Taif has warned businesses and traders against hiking prices of commodities during and after the Eid holidays, stating that violators would face prosecution.
An official from the Ministry said errant traders would be summoned for questioning on the unauthorized price hike. The Ministry’s supervisory teams will visit various markets and will also respond to any complaint they receive from the public about hike in prices over the market rates.
“Each and every citizen is entitled to report any increase in prices either by e-mail or by toll free telephone,” the official said, adding that the move was initiated following carwash stations hiking rates by up to 100 percent over the usual price in the past five days, taking advantage of the demand ahead of Eid Al-Fitr.
The hike in rates by carwash stations had a reverse effect because expats who manually wash cars in the neighborhood were offering their services at costs lower than the usual rates.
Citizens complained that lack of supervision of carwash stations had encouraged them to hike prices. Besides carwashes, restaurants, beauty salons, barbershops, candy shops and even dry cleaners had resorted to price hikes. Local vendors hike prices knowing that people would pay because they have to be ready to celebrate and enjoy Eid.
“People are desperate to look their best and dress up in their best. Vendors take advantage of the situation and become greedy and want to double their income by charging us double for everything,” said Mohammad Abduljawad, a school teacher. “I went to my usual Turkish barber shop who charged me SR70 instead of the usual SR40, the reason being that it was the price for Eid and I couldn’t argue because I needed to shave,” he added.
Abduljawad said prices vary from one barbershop to another according to the nationality of the barber. Turkish, Tunisian and Moroccan barbers are more expensive than other nationalities, but they all charge more than the set price that was decided by the Municipality which is SR10 to SR15 for shaving and SR15 to SR20 for haircut.
Hotels also hiked open buffet rates from the usual for Eid breakfast.
“When I used to go for breakfast at a hotel in Riyadh with my family, I used to pay SR120 per head,” said Mariam Al-Qahtani, a housewife.
“On the first day of Eid, I paid SR250 and the food was exactly the same. They didn’t add anything new to the table.
When I asked the manager, he said rates during Eid are always higher than normal prices because more people come in. This did not make sense to me but I had to go there because it’s tradition in my family.”
Ministry warns traders against price hikes
