The Minster of Health and Population had reportedly proposed to pharmaceutical producers to allow raising prices of 10% of medicines by 50% every six months starting next February, whereas the producers have reportedly refused the frequency of the increase and required that the increase is allowed every three months, during a meeting held with representatives of 20 pharmaceutical producers last Thursday and Saturday, where the Minister will meet with another 10 companies today to share the proposal, according to sources that attended the meeting. The Minster has also vowed to reduce some government-related costs for producers (utilities, custom tarrifs, and VAT on non-core production inputs), which were already proposed by the Parliament’s health committee last week. However, the Minster had conditioned for his proposal that the companies produce all the currently missing medicines until February. (Al Borsa)