The Saudi General Authority for Competition completed the interconnection with more than 5 public entities to provide them with available data and enable them to analyze prices and build indicators for early detection of collusion in government competitions, in addition to creating more than 30 indicators and a dashboard that helps them in controlling markets.
The authority aims to adopt the competition-stimulating policies, combat illegal monopolistic practices, in order to improve market performance, support the consumer and business sector confidence, and contribute to investments flow and sustainable development.
A report issued by the Authority, a copy of which was reviewed by Asharq Al-Awsat, uncovered 15 undeclared merger and acquisition deals in the past year, against which the authority took a number of legal measures.
The information and communications sectors, as well as the manufacturing industries, were the leading sectors in which unreported deals were monitored.
At the same time, the Authority revealed that it received 316 applications for economic concentration operations (mergers and acquisitions) over the past year, mainly in the manufacturing sector, followed by information and communication technology.
It dealt with 117 complaints during the same period, the largest number of which was in the retail and wholesale sectors, followed by construction.
GAC board of directors approved its strategy for the years 2022-2025, which includes four strategic axes, 11 goals and more than 20 initiatives. The authority aims to direct its resources to promote fair competition in the markets, thus contributing to achieving the goals of Vision 2030.
