Lockdown triggers panic buying as commerce sector urges calm, reassures of sufficient stock

AMMAN — Chairman of the Amman Chamber of Commerce (ACC) Khalil Haj Tawfiq on Wednesday urged the public to refrain from stockpiling food and other commodities in the wake of recent government measures to contain the spread of COVID-19 in the Kingdom.

On Tuesday, a Royal Decree was issued approving the Cabinet’s decision to activate Defence Law No. 13, which took effect across the Kingdom on March 17, 2020.

In a letter addressed to Prime Minister Omar Razzaz on Tuesday, His Majesty King Abdullah directed the government to ensure that the implementation of the Defence Law and the orders issued under it will be within the most limited scope possible.

The King instructed the government to implement the law without infringing on Jordanians’ political and civil rights, “but, rather, safeguarding them and protecting public liberties and the right to self-expression enshrined in the Constitution and in accordance with regular laws currently in effect, and guaranteeing the respect of private property, be it real estate or movable and immovable funds”.

Shortly after the announcement of the new measures, however, hundreds of Jordanians rushed to shops and major supermarkets to buy food and other commodities in anticipation of a long lockdown.

In a statement that was made available to The Jordan Times, Tawfiq urged people not to panic and to refrain from stockpiling food and other goods, stressing that there is sufficient merchandise in the market.

“Yesterday we witnessed an unprecedented activity in the market, with some places reporting four times the amount of purchasing activity, and this could cause confusion and chaos in the supply and demand process,” Tawfiq said.

The ACC chairman said that the government excluded the food sector from its preventative measures and that “everyone in this sector is working in full capacity, and we have around 14,000 operating shops and supermarkets in the Kingdom”.

Shop employees and citizens alike criticised the recent rush to supermarkets to buy food and other goods, describing it as “unnecessary, since everything is available”.

“The line leading to a major bakery shop in Sweifieh after the implementation of the Defence Law was announced reached the end of the street and people stood for hours to buy bread,” an employee who worked in a nearby shop told The Jordan Times.

Abu Mohammad, 38, who works at a butcher shop, dubbed the excessive shopping as “crazy”.

“People are buying things they do not need and are borrowing money for it. There is no need to panic and consumers should just buy what they need as they do every day.  Everything is open and food is available,” Abu Mohammad told The Jordan Times.

Meanwhile, a female shopper, 45, who went to buy some food from a local supermarket near her house said that “the shelves were empty when I walked in”.

“Usually this is not a busy place, but on Tuesday evening people were standing in lines to pay and I could barely find anything on the shelves to buy,” she told The Jordan Times.

Another woman, a mother of two, who was standing near the canned food shelves in a major supermarket in Amman, said that there is “no need for people to panic”.

“I am not worried at all because the supermarkets are full and being supplied on a daily basis, and one of the family members could go to a certain shop and get the daily needs and return home. There is no need to panic,” the 35-year-old woman told The Jordan Times.

Meanwhile, Razan Khatib, a blogger, told The Jordan Times that she was “moderate” in her shopping a few days ago.

“I did some shopping but did not exaggerate. I bought stuff in preparation for a two-month period of staying at home because the situation is very dynamic and continuously evolving, and we do not know how long we will stay in this situation until the coronavirus is suppressed,” Khatib said.