Government pay-hike spurs consumer price rises

Dealers have taken advantage of a presidential decision to raise the salaries of public servants in the UAE and hiked prices of several consumer items, prompting a deluge of complaints at the ministry of economy.

Officials said they had received in excess of 1,200 reports from the public that dealers had raised the prices of many consumer products since the decision to raise the salaries of the more than 70,000 civil servants was announced this month. The issue will be discussed by the consumer protection committee when it meets in Dubai on Thursday under its chairman Sultan bin Saeed Al Mansoori, the minister of economy.

“We have received an unprecedented number of complaints from the public about unjustified increases in prices of consumer items following the decision by President HH Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan to raise the salaries of federal government employees,” the ministry said in a statement.

Head of the consumer protection committee Hashem Al Nuaimai said the division had received “more than 1,200 complaints in just two weeks.”

“This is a very high number of complaints in such a period of time…this happens for the first time,” he said.

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