Rice importers in the Kingdom have threatened to increase the price of this essential commodity by the middle of this year unless the Ministry of Finance pays them the subsidy which the government fixed at SR1,000 for each ton. Last year, King Abdullah, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, issued directives for subsidizing some consumer products, including rice, baby milk and some other essential commodities with the objective of lightening the burden on citizens and residents. The importers adopted a threatening tone after exchanging accusations with the Exemption Committee regarding the delay in the payment of the subsidy since December 2007 when the decision was issued, saying: “Since then we have only heard promises from the Ministry of Finance and Exemption Committee.” “When we insist on the payment of this subsidy, they come up with excuses such as a shortage of subsidy forms. We have nothing to do with their paper work. We just want to get the money that has been promised to us,” they added. Regarding the allegations leveled by the merchants, Mahmoud Reshwan, member of the Commercial National Committee, said the information he had confirms that the rice importers have not so far received the subsidy ordered by the government. “We have passed the period of skyrocketing prices as the global financial crisis has compelled rice producers to reduce their prices,” he said, adding that this will bring down the price of rice locally. Reshwan called upon rice importers to respond in a practical manner to the fall in the price of this essential commodity the same way they did when the price surged, pointing out that one of the reasons leading to the delay in the payment of subsidies is that the Exemption Committee asks exporters to produce the original customs copy in order to calculate the subsidy. He described this demand as a purely procedural matter because it makes no difference whether the importers produce the original or third copy since the Customs' stamp is found on all copies. Reshwan said this poses a crucial question as to why the committee refuses Customs' copies though both of them – the committee and Customs – function under the Ministry of Finance. He added: “The irony of the century is that the word “subsidy” is mentioned on the rice certificate released by the Quality Control Laboratory which furnishes conclusive evidence that the cleared shipment is subsidized which should be accepted by the committee without raising any further pretexts to delay payment. An official at the Ministry of Finance, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said any importer who submits all of the documents required by the ministry will immediately be paid the subsidy, pointing out that, “We do not benefit from the delay since the subsidy allocations have been made according to royal directives. He urged the importers to present all the documents needed for the payment of the subsidy as soon as possible so that they can receive the subsidy payment. Rice exporting companies have already sent notifications to rice importers in the Kingdom indicating a drop of 30 percent in prices of new imports compared to the last year's prices.
