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Kuwait City: Kuwait has banned the export of sheep and frozen chicken as of August to maintain sufficient supplies locally as part of efforts to fight record inflation in the Gulf state, the official KUNA news agency said on Tuesday.
The world's seventh-largest oil exporter is fighting record inflation, which hit 10.1 per cent in February, the latest published figure as housing and food costs soar.
As of August 1 the export of live and slaughtered sheep will be banned until the end of 2008 and the export of frozen chicken until further notice, KUNA said, citing a commerce and industry ministry official.
The ministry was implementing a host of measures to prevent unjustified increases in prices, Mohammad Al Anzi, head of the supply department at the ministry, told KUNA.
Separately, daily Al Watan said Commerce and Industry Minister Ahmad Baqer has warned cooperative supermarkets not to increase prices without seeking government approval.
Subsidies
Cooperatives, where citizens can buy basic foods subsidised by the government under a card scheme, "should not increase prices of any food item without consulting the ministry", Al Watan newspaper quoted Baqer as saying.
The paper said Baqer will meet representatives from the Union of Cooperative Societies today to discuss high prices of foods and basic goods.
The cabinet is under pressure from parliament to counter rising prices.
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