Meat subsidy removal: Traders grope in dark
Melvin Mendonca/DTNN
Manama
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With the meat subsidy withdrawal is round the corner, speculations are rife in the meat market. The meat traders at Manama Central Market are not sure about the date of subsidy withdrawal and the official decision on the subject.
Sources have confirmed that the meat subsidy will be withdrawn on October 1.
Salam, a meat trader at Manama Central Market, said that he had not yet received any official communication from the authorities about the withdrawal of meat subsidy. “Currently, we are selling mutton at BD1 per kg and beef at BD1.2 per kg. I have no idea about the future prices of mutton and beef,” he revealed.
He said that he had been reading about the meat subsidy withdrawal for many months. “But nothing is clear about the date of subsidy withdrawal or the prices of meat,” he added.
Salam said that there would be a fall in sale of meat at the central market, if the meat prices were hiked. According to him, most of the customers may prefer supermarkets, if the meat market becomes competitive.
“Nowadays, people are buying meat in big quantities expecting that the meat rate would go up next month. Otherwise, we hardly witness any big turnout here,” he said, adding that the meat subsidy withdrawal might affect the livelihood of 200 plus employees of Manama meat market.
Meat trader Nissar said that the government should have withdrawn meat subsidy step by step. “Complete withdrawal of meat subsidy will not only affect meat business at the Central market, but also it will have negative impact on restaurants,” he said.
He said that each trader at the Central Market received seven to eight slaughtered sheep everyday.
Information Affairs Minister Isa bin Abdulrahman Al-Hammadi recently said that as many as eight centres and websites had engaged in registering the beneficiaries, who will be compensated after the withdrawal of meat subsidy.
Earlier, the government said that the meat subsidy would be axed on August 1. Later, the plan to scrap meat subsidy was postponed twice, pushing the date of subsidy withdrawal to October 1.
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