RIYADH — The Ministry of Commerce and Industry will make it compulsory on shops, pharmacies, groceries and other traders effective Saturday (Aug. 17) to give change in coins instead of chewing gum, disposable napkins, or bottled water, according to the ministry's statement. It said as a prelude to this step, the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA) has supplied all banks with enough quantities of coins in various denominations. According to the statement, the ministry will launch an awareness campaign under the title “take your change” to educate the consumers to take their change in coins which represent part of the riyal and not to be content with other alternatives such as chewing gum. The ministry said it would launch a massive inspection campaign after the deadline to ensure that all shops, groceries, pharmacies and others have enough quantities of coins to give in change to consumers. The statement said the ministry will punish all shops which refuse to give their customers their change in coins. On its part, SAMA said the banks have been supplied with sufficient quantities of coins so the shops will have no excuse that they do not have coins. It said the violating banks will be subject to fines. “Consumers have every right to receive their change in coins when they make purchases. They should not be obliged to take the change in any other form,” the statement said. The ministry explained that its “take your change” campaign is a continuation of its other campaign titled “do not ask how much” which made it obligatory on all shops to put the price tags on each commodity. “We are proud of our language” was another initiative of the ministry aimed at writing bills in Arabic language. The ministry has banned the shops from using the phrase: “the sold out commodities will not be returned or changed”. It said the violating banks will be subject to fines.
