Govt to keep tab on price hike of commodities: Minister

Manama 

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Taking up the cudgels for the consumers, Information Affairs Minister Isa bin Abdulrahman Al-Hammadi said that the government would carry on observing the prices of commodities in the Kingdom.

“The government will not allow the traders to arbitrarily hike the prices of any commodities once the meat subsidy is lifted in Bahrain,” Al-Hammadi remarked while speaking to presspersons on the sidelines of Cabinet meeting, chaired by Prime Minister HRH Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa, yesterday. 

“A lot of institutions are there in the Kingdom to protect the interests of the customers,” he pointed out. Al-Hammadi said the government was engaged in gathering data about the families, which will be compensated in the backdrop of removal of meat subsidy. “The families, which will receive compensation, will be registered online.” 

As many as 116,000 families have already been registered under the Social Development Ministry.  

“They need not register again,” the Minister informed, and added that the directives of the Premier would be followed in implementing the removal of meat subsidy in Bahrain. 

“The joint committee formed to take decision on meat subsidy will take a decision on mechanisms to be implemented to distribute the cash compensation to Bahraini citizens,” he said. 

Deputy Premier and Chairman of Ministerial Committee for Economic Affairs and Rationalising Expenditure Shaikh Khalid bin Abdulla Al Khalifa on Saturday issued a directive asking the Central Informatics Organisation (CIO) to open online registration for citizens. 

Shaikh Khalid also ordered the Finance Ministry to start crediting the compensatory sums to the beneficiaries’ account effective October.