Global price hikes will not affect local market during Ramadan — Trade Ministry

AMMAN — The global price hike of essential commodities will not affect the local market during Ramadan, according to Yanal Barmawi, the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Supply’s spokesperson.

“The national food reserve is sufficient and there is ongoing coordination with the industrial and commerce sectors to strengthen and maintain it,” Barmawi told The Jordan Times.

He added that the government recently implemented multiple measures to reduce the effects of the global price rise on the domestic market. 

These decisions included reducing inspection fees for imported goods by 30 per cent, setting a price cap on freight rates, as well as increasing the storage period for goods at the port of Aqaba and reducing electricity tariffs on a number of economic sectors, such as the industry and commerce sectors, he noted.

Barmawi added that Jordan imports the majority of its domestic market needs from global markets, noting that the ministry along with the private sector are “doing their best” to prevent the impact of the global price hike on the local market.

“There has been an ongoing rise in the prices of vegetable oils since August 2020,” Barmawi stated.

The ministry has set price cap for oils to regulate their prices in the local market, Barmawi added.

However, Khaleel Al Haj Tawfiq, president of Amman Chamber of Commerce, said that “the trade sector is concerned”. 

The sector has been suffering for a long time, he noted, adding that retailers cannot afford to maintain their current prices and the price caps in some cases, taking into consideration the global price hike in foodstuff as well as shipping and fuel prices. 

“The commerce sector is exhausted on a widespread scale,” Tawfiq told The Jordan Times.