Steps taken to check barley prices RIYADH – The Cabinet on Monday, chaired by King Abdullah, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, approved the reorganization of the National Authority for the Implementation of the Chemical Arms and Biological Warfare Control Agreements. The authority has been placed under the supervision of Prince Saud Al-Faisal, Minister of Foreign Affairs. The body will now operate under the chairmanship of the undersecretary at the Foreign Ministry for Multiparty Relations. The authority will now serve as a liaison and national coordination center for the enforcement of agreements pertaining to the control of chemical arms and other similar agreements. It will liaise with international organizations involved in chemical and biological warfare agreements in order to monitor their activities at the national and international levels and coordinate with the relevant government bodies to ensure that the Kingdom's commitments are carried out as defined in the agreements. Barley prices The Cabinet also approved a number of measures to check the recent hike in the price of barley in the Kingdom. The government will import and stockpile a sufficient amount of barley to be able to break monopolies and stabilize prices. This will be done in coordination with the ministries of finance, agriculture and commerce. The Cabinet stipulated that the margin of profit for distributors should not exceed SR4 for a 50-kg bag and that a ministerial committee should revise the prices of barley and take appropriate actions to maintain stability in the prices. Regional emirs in coordination with the relevant authorities will oversee inspection campaigns of all shops dealing in barely. If a barley importer commits a violation, he will lose his entitled subsidies and be banned from importing for six months. And if the violation is made by a distributor, he will be prevented from conducting business for a similar period of time. Violators will be defamed in daily newspapers at their own expense.
