RIYADH: The price of baby milk has risen by 15 to 20 percent over the past two months despite government subsidies. Workers at pharmacies in various parts of the Kingdom confirmed that prices of some products such as Ironlak have jumped from SR23 to SR26 and Premium Care from SR33 to SR47. Gamal Sabri, a pharmacist in Riyadh, blamed importers for this increase of up to 20 percent. He said pharmacy owners and distributors have little to do with prices. The main investors or importers are the people who determine prices of medicines and milk. They would then send a price list to pharmacists, he said. He said most consumers mistakenly believe that the owners of pharmacies are responsible for price increases. He admitted that there is weak supervision of prices, which is exploited by some pharmacy owners. Dr. Naser Al-Tewaim, Chairman of the Consumer Protection Society, said the society cooperates with a number of bodies in the field to protect consumers from tampering with the prices of essential products. Apart from this, the society provides consumers with a list of the prices of commodities via SMS. A statistical report shows that consumers in the Kingdom spend SR1.5 billion yearly on buying 75 million cans of baby milk. Statistics from the United Nations shows there are 622,000 births in the Kingdom every year.
