Over 80 percent of electric appliances and 50 percent of imported tires available in the Kingdom are fake and not in conformity with Saudi specifications and standards, a quality control official said. The Saudi market has become a dumping ground for inferior “time-bomb” products sold in broad daylight with the knowledge of the authorities concerned, said Abdul Rahman Al-Harbi, member of the anti-commercial fraud committee at the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI), who also holds a key post in the regional quality control laboratory. He said the Saudi economy loses more than SR16 billion yearly, since more than 80 percent of electric appliances, 65 percent of textile products and 50 percent of tires – that are mostly rejected by other markets but imported by dealers in the Kingdom – are fake. Muhammed Hassan Yusuf, a businessman in Jeddah, blamed government agencies and incompetent civil servants for the malaise, saying they care more for paper work than the quality of work they achieve. He said the country needs efficient decision makers and civil servants who can pinpoint and analyze problems and find solutions to overcome them.
