We are not thinking about such a mass measure as the 25 cents, said the Minister of Economy
“We are considering traders getting a discount on fuel if they deliver goods to shops in sparsely populated areas. However, this measure will have a social, not mass, aspect.” This was stated by the Minister of Economy Nikola Stoyanov in the studio of Nova TV.
“I couldn’t afford to point the finger at someone and say ‘the problem is only here’. Most likely the problem is everywhere in the chain, and the sum of these problems from different parts of the chain leads to an unreasonable increase in price.” This is how he commented on the inspections carried out in the past weeks for speculative prices in the commercial network.
Stoyanov also explained the way in which the website of the caretaker government will operate, on which the prices of basic foodstuffs in the country will be compared. “On its home page there are icons of 30 products, as well as four raw materials. These are products from the small shopping basket. There are several filters by which we can see the price – for the whole country, by regions or in other European countries,” he pointed out the minister.
According to him, this site provides very good information for users. “For the first time, it unites information from different institutions. This was also the goal, since such a tool was missing. There should have been a common information system regarding food in Bulgaria for many years, and this is the beginning of its construction,” he emphasized he. And he added: “We don’t expect to reduce prices through the site. Through it we can monitor the processes and trends. They are more important – if on the site the wholesale price drops, but the retail price continues to rise – we see that there is a problem along the chain. The site also has a direct link to the KZP and BABH, to which signals can be submitted”.
Stoyanov also commented on the idea of a ceiling on the markup. “For this, we need a change in the law. I assume that the parliament will meet around Easter. I really hope that this will be on the agenda of the deputies and this will be the first thing they will deal with. At the beginning, we had an idea that this would happen by Ordinance, but experts advised us that this would be legally “on the edge”. So we decided to
let’s go through the safe and correct way, namely through the law”.
He explained that the idea is to have a markup ceiling for one to two items in a product group. “This will distort the market to a minimal extent. This ceiling will apply to traders who are above a certain threshold and will not affect small shops”.
Regarding fuel compensation, the minister indicated that several new measures are being worked on. “We think that one of them is combined with the measures regarding food – to finance part of the logistics to low-populated areas that are left without shops. The idea is that these measures are social in view of these fuel prices. We are not thinking about a similar mass measure as the 25 cents.
Now possibly traders will receive a discount for fuel if they deliver goods to sparsely populated areas,” added Stoyanov.
