Stores warned over price hikes

PRICE WARNING: Kuwait has told cooperative supermarkets not to increase prices without consulting with the government. (Getty Images)

Kuwait's commerce and industry minister warned cooperative supermarkets not to increase prices without consulting the government first, a local daily said on Tuesday.

The Middle East's fourth-largest oil exporter is fighting record inflation hitting 10.1 percent in February, the latest published figure as housing and food costs soar.

Cooperative supermarkets, where citizens can buy basic foods subsidised by the government under a card scheme, "should not increase prices for any food item without consulting the ministry", Al-Watan newspaper quoted Ahmad Baqer as saying.

The paper said Baqer would meet representatives from the Union of Cooperative Societies on Wednesday to discuss high prices of foods and basic goods.

Politcally, inflation is a hot potato in Kuwait where the cabinet is under pressure from parliament to counter rising prices.

Parliament agreed last month to raise salaries for citizens working in the public and private sectors to offset the impact of inflation, just four months after another salary rise for the public sector.

The cabinet discussed on Monday a report by a committee investigating the rise of prices of basic commodities, state news agency KUNA said.

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