RIYADH, 10 September 2007 — The Shoura Council, Saudi Arabia’s 150-member appointed consultative body, announced yesterday that it had established a special committee to study price increases in the Kingdom. The announcement was made a day after SAMA Gov. Hamad Al-Sayyari said that inflation in Saudi Arabia was expected to rise to 4 percent this year.
The council also announced the formation of a second committee to investigate the causes of the deaths of camels and other livestock in the Kingdom over the past few months. Both committees will submit their findings to the council president for discussion by members.
Shoura President Sheikh Saleh Bin-Humeid emphasized “the need for all efforts to be expedited” to tackle the price increases which have become a burden on citizens and residents alike in the Kingdom over the past year.
“Government statistics show that general living expenses for the month of July this year increased by 3.8 percent compared to July last year,” he said, adding that the Council was fully aware of the problems such increases caused.
The Shoura president said that the increase in living expenses was “a burden which sends negative signals.” The burden, according to him, requires the solidarity of all people in the country “regardless of their position and responsibilities” to look into the problem and find solutions.
Members of the council requested that the Minister of Trade and Commerce Hashim Yamani be called to the Council in order to discuss the price increases.
The Shoura president said that in addition to the price hikes in the Kingdom, another problem had also affected a large group in society in recent months. He was referring to the deaths of thousands of camels and other livestock all over the Kingdom.
“The phenomenon of camel deaths which has caused financial burdens to a large group in society is a matter of importance to the government,” he said. Bin-Humeid said that Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah had given directives to compensate the owners of the dead camels. According to official sources, as many as 3,000 camels have died throughout the country. The mysterious deaths also spread to sheep. The Ministry of Agriculture announced yesterday that laboratory tests revealed that toxins in animal feed were the reason for the deaths.
Bin-Humeid said the Council, which is a leading supervisory government body, had the responsibility of ensuring the productivity, efficiency, and performance of all government institutions. He also said the council had the task of studying matters of public interest and providing speedy solutions to them.
During yesterday’s session, a council member urged the body to require the Ministry of Agriculture to increase the number of veterinarians in the Kingdom. Amir Al-Luwaihig pointed out that there were as few as 500 veterinarians working for the ministry all over the Kingdom.
He also called for establishing more veterinary centers in the Kingdom’s provinces and having a specialized veterinary center in every one of them.
