Traders slam MoCI’s policy of setting commodity prices

This news has been read 9272 times!

2 mln cyber attacks against Kuwait detected in Q1 of ’18: report

KUWAIT CITY, June 27: It seems that the policy adopted by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry to specify the prices of commodities bothers many traders, reports Al-Rai daily. Chairman of Ali Abdulwahab Al-Mutawa Group and Chairman of the Board of Directors at Bayan Investment Company Faisal Al-Mutawa said Ministry of Commerce and Industry’s policy of setting the prices of commodities is characterized by manipulation, especially as the sector had earlier promised to refer to the Union of Cooperative Societies all requests made by traders to increase the prices of some commodities.

The traders notice that the ministry keeps postponing their requests under weak pretexts, citing its intention to keep the prices intact in the month of Ramadan — although those requests were submitted to the ministry long before the advent of Ramadan. He added there’s no truth in the claim that traders only focus on increasing their profits, and since Kuwait is an importing country, prices of commodities are determined by international circumstances such as currency value and shipping cost.

He said the Ministry of Commerce and Industry does not honor the Amiri desire to transform Kuwait to an international commercial and financial center. He stressed that government’s idea of setting prices of commodity defies the strategy of free economy and negatively affect competitiveness while preventing mobilization.

Violate
Chairman of Kuwait Chamber of Commerce and Industry Rabah Al-Rabah also stated the State’s strategy on setting the prices of commodities violate international trade conventions and impedes the State’s intention to promote a free economy. Meanwhile, a recent report by the Trend Micro Company revealed that two million cyber attacks against Kuwait were detected in the first quarter of 2018, and 224,916 people in the country fell victim to the fictitious URL after accessing 214 unsafe links, reports Al-Nahar daily.

The company, which monitored cyber attacks in the Middle East, indicated ‘Ransom Wire’ software encountered almost two million cyber attacks against the government and private sector in Kuwait. It cautioned that hacking data and cyber crimes may impede the development plan initiative in Kuwait and Arabian Gulf in general.

It affirmed the aspiration of Kuwait and other GCC countries to hasten economic diversification as a measure for sustainable development has contributed to the high rate of digitalization, which as a natural phenomenon, causes an increase in the cases of exposure to danger and susceptibility to cyber attacks. It reiterated that banking software is facing attacks at an alarming rate, and Kuwait experienced 90 of such attacks within the first quarter of 2018.

This news has been read 9272 times!