Shura Council discusses inflation, financial burdens

Under the chairmanship of HE Speaker of the Shura Council Hassan bin Abdullah Al Ghanim, The Shura Council held its regular weekly meeting on Monday at Tamim bin Hamad Hall.

The council reviewed the Economic and Financial Affairs Committee's report on the request for general discussion submitted by council members during the past legislative term regarding inflation, high cost of living, and increased financial burdens on citizens.

The Shura Council decided to submit a proposal to the esteemed government on the aforementioned issue after extensive discussions on the report's conclusion and exchanging points of view on finding solutions to that issue by the members.

The proposal included several axes and recommendations that should lead to reducing the impacts of inflation, as well as views that seek to address the issue of high consumer prices, providing realistic scenarios to deal with the high operational cost of goods and services, which will reflect on consumers.

Speaker of the Shura Council HE Hassan bin Abdullah Al Ghanim referred to the social and economic negative impacts of inflation and the high cost of living, which requires the concerted efforts of all concerned parties to address that issue.

He added that given the importance of that issue, it was raised during the Council's first legislative term, when the Economic and Financial Affairs Committee, since the previous term under the chairmanship of HE Mohamed bin Yousef Al Mana, has made commendable efforts to study all the aspects of that issue. During the current term, the committee completed those efforts to reach the report before you.

The Shura Council speaker indicated that the legislations enacted by the state to overcome the issues included within the request for discussion were tangible. He reviewed the major laws in this regard, such as the law on protecting competition and preventing monopolistic practices and what the law stipulated in terms of establishing a special committee to protect competitiveness, along with other relevant legislations and laws.

During his review of the report, Chairman of the Economic and Financial Affairs Committee Ahmad bin Hitmi Al Hitmi indicated that the rise in prices included all sectors, with a noticeable increase in certain basic sectors, pointing out that other sectors were affected by that issue.He noted that these sectors are not considered basic or necessary in daily life, which calls for a change in the community's consumption pattern and culture.

Al Hitmi explained the reasons behind the inflation and high prices in Qatar, which he attributed to internal and external factors. He also reviewed a number of solutions and recommendations proposed by the committee to address the inflation and high prices, including those related to anti-monopoly policies, increasing allocated places for commercial activities, subsidizing basic commodities and materials, supporting the national product to increase its production in the local market, reviewing fees and taxes policies, and raising awareness of the important role of trader and consumer in that regard.

The Shura Council members called on the authorities concerned to protect consumers and monitor the prices by intensifying their campaigns on the market, encouraging free competition and working to prevent monopoly, providing all means of support for the local product and providing it in a bigger scale in the local market, as well as encouraging its export and support it to compete abroad.