This was stated in “Hello, Bulgaria” by the Minister of Economy
Apart from the war and the energy crisis, rising incomes have also contributed to the high levels of inflation in our country over the past year. This was stated in the studio of “Hello, Bulgaria” by the Minister of Economy Nikola Stoyanov.
“Momentum is very thin. It goes without saying that incomes in such a country must rise. The question is how much, how quickly, how it compares to other measures that are meant to compensate for high prices. I think last year was too much and things didn’t go right. This led to higher inflation in Bulgaria compared to the European Union”, added Stoyanov.
He also commented on the checks that the state makes regarding the prices of food products in our country. “Mass establishment with an 80-90% markup”, declared the responsible minister. The office is working on the idea that if a trader wants to put a markup higher than 25% on a given product, to inform the Consumer Protection Commission. The percentage is still being discussed, explained Minister Stoyanov. This would limit unfair trade practices, he believes. However, according to the economy minister, the government is not at war with the chains and is not pointing fingers at them.
Regarding the debate on whether the VAT for food should be reduced, Stoyanov did not hide that he is skeptical about the introduction of the measure. According to him, this is unlikely to reduce the prices of food products. However, he revealed scandalous examples of identical products at home and abroad. One of them is oil – the same brand, in the same store – in Bulgaria and in Germany. The price of the product there was 40% lower than ours, the minister emphasized. Eggs in Austria are the only ones in Europe that are more expensive than Bulgarian eggs. Mass in other countries were 10-20% cheaper than ours. There was even a case where Bulgarian white brine cheese in Belgium was cheaper than in our country.
The Minister of Economy shared the department’s ambition to make the acts on unfair trade practices the same as in Europe. There, the sanctions for such a violation can reach 4% of the trader’s turnover. In our country, the act is not tied to turnover and can be in the amount of a maximum of BGN 50 thousand.
Watch the whole conversation in the video.
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