JEDDAH, 14 July 2005 — The Ministry of Health has approved reducing the prices of imported EU pharmaceuticals by 10 percent because of the recent decrease in currency exchange rate as reported in the monthly report of the Saudi Arabia Monetary Agency (SAMA) sent to government administrations.
Dr. Khaled Merghalani, the Health Ministry’s spokesperson, said the ministry had already begun instructing pharmaceutical importing agents on the new changes of the prices.
The ministry determines the price of a drug by taking the average exchange rate for a riyal during 18 months to set the price. Dr. Merghalani said if the decrease in exchange was more than 10 percent according to SAMA’s report during the new pricing period, the ministry has the right to begin decreasing the price of drugs again. It informs agents of the new price three months in advance of the price reduction to allow exiting stocks to be sold off.
