The Ministry of Commerce and Industry is seeking to appoint 800 Saudis as supervisors to monitor the country's markets. Of this total, 500 positions are for men and 300 for women. This comes after the government issued a decision that Saudi women must be employed in the country's lingerie, perfume and accessories shops. The supervisors will also be used to monitor prices of food and services. The Ministry of Finance is being asked to approve funding for the new supervisor posts. Sources told Okaz/Saudi Gazette that the Ministry of Commerce is seeking applications from different regions of the Kingdom. According to sources, the supervisors will be appointed as soon as the general budget is announced in the next few weeks. They will receive on-the-job training to enable them to detect violations. The sources said the first batch of male and female supervisors will be deployed in the more populated areas of Riyadh, Makkah, Asir and the Eastern Province. This request by the Ministry of Commerce follows the order of King Abdullah, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, on March 18, to create 500 jobs in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry to monitor and report any unjustified price hikes across the country. The supervisors will also report any commercial fraud. The King had also ordered the Ministry of Commerce and Industry to impose stiff deterrent penalties on those who tamper with prices, including publicly naming violators. __
