FNC members urge co-op managers to keep prices down

In a meeting earlier this week, an FNC member said co-ops must help consumers deal with inflation and provide better shopping offers.

ABU DHABI // Mangers of co-operative societies are being urged to “keep their prices reasonable” by members of the Federal National Council.

At a meeting this week, Ali Al Nuaimi (Ajman), stressed the need to help consumers to deal with inflation and provide them with better shopping offers.

He questioned Mariam Al Roumi, the Minister of Social Affairs, about the ministry's role in governing co-ops last year.

He believed the answer was vague so requested that the Cabinet study the matter in depth with the help of a temporary committee in the council, reviewing the 1976 law on co-ops and the role of the ministry in supervising and inspecting their work.

The committee will study how the ministry has been spreading awareness of co-ops’ work and supporting them.

“The main purpose of co-op societies is to provide goods at reasonable prices,” Mr Al Nuaimi said. “Their profits should also be reasonable and not their main goal.

“But what has happened is that we have noticed that co-ops have derailed from their true purpose and have become more concerned about increasing profits of share-holders. This is a breach of the main principles of co-op societies.”

Prices have been surging and customers have been suffering, he said.

“So we asked to study this issue,” he said.

At a meeting on Tuesday with co-op bosses, Mr Al Nuaimi was unable to provide specific examples, but said the FNC had been assured that co-ops were working on maintaining low prices, even at a loss.

Mr Al Nuaimi and other council members said they would work to guarantee the co-ops’ further endorsements from the Government and “all we ask from them is to be courteous to consumers”.

The committee’s next meeting, in two weeks, will be with the Higher Committee for Consumer Protection and will look at how the co-ops follow prices.

Once a final report is drawn up, documenting co-op managers’ struggles, recommendations for them, and ways to assist consumers, it will be passed to the 40-member council for debate.

“The main object of this is to ensure co-ops are playing their primary role,” he said.