Omar bin Faisal al Jahdhami, Deputy Chairman of the Public Authority for Consumer Authority (PACP) said that, since the onset of coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic, PACP has been keeping an eye on shops, commercial centres and other consumer service outlets in all parts of the Sultanate to ensure the outlets’ non-exploitation of the situation by hiking prices in the wake of heavy demand on their products.

In a statement to Oman News Agency (ONA), al-Jahdhami pointed out that campaigns made visits to outlets selling medical items, including safety outfits and sanitizers to check their availability in abundance and in affordable prices.

PACP also visited outlets selling farm products and made the same checks, said al Jahdhami, noting that the consumer authority gave tickets to offending outlets that raised the prices of some goods whose supply went low due entry (or country-to-country) restrictions, and that the pre-corona market status has been reinstated.

Since late February, a total of 3,703 reports of violation were filed, leading to the handing over of 1,320 tickets to outlets that breached instructions that regulate commercial activity, al -Jahdhami said.

He added that PACP also follows up market activity through its 24-hour Call Centre which transfers violation reports immediately to its inspectors.  ONA