Cabinet moves to curb price fixing

The government has decided to take effective measures to rein in the spiraling prices in the local markets.
“Government departments will step up monitoring and supervision of prices of goods and services, provide a congenial atmosphere for healthy competition, stop any overpricing aimed at higher profit margins and ban attempts to hoard goods.” Minister of Culture and Information Abdul Aziz Khoja said after a meeting of the Council of Ministers Monday night.
Crown Prince Salman deputy premier and minister of defense chaired the cabinet meeting at Al-Salam Palace in Jeddah.
The cabinet also decided to prepare a comprehensive database on the movement of prices of goods and services in the local and regional markets besides tracking the developments that influence prices and the logic of changes in prices, Khoja said, adding that the people would also have the opportunity to get these information.
The cabinet also approved new regulations governing domestic workers in the country.
Major features of the newly approved regulations include the establishment of a regulatory framework for the relationship between employers and domestic workers including a clear statement of the duties and rights of each party.
“The regulations shall create a mechanism for the settlement and adjudication of financial claims arising between domestic workers and employers and irregularities which are of non-criminal nature, through the committees to be set up for this purpose by the Minister of Labor,” Khoja said in his statement.
The cabinet also issued a decision to appoint Abdul Wahab Al-Faiz as a board member of the Saudi Press Agency (SPA). Al-Faiz was nominated for the position by the Minister of Culture and Information.
"I hope this honorable appointment as a board member of the SPA allows me to serve the country through media specially that SPA has taken an independent position financially and administratively. SPA is expected to make quantum leaps in the news industry," Al-Faiz said.