Skopje, 6 March 2024 (MIA) - Deputy PM for Economic Affairs Fatmir Bytyqi said Wednesday he will file another complaint with the Commission for the Protection of Competition (KZK) in the event of price fixing among traders after the Government’s “guaranteed price” measure has officially ended. 

Bytyqi invited the media to join him on Saturday for a visit to six different markets in order to see whether there are any price hikes with food products. 

"I invite you to join me this Saturday. We will visit six different markets with different brands to check the prices of one or two products and if there are any price hikes, on Monday we will go to the Commission for the Protection of Competition (KZK) to file a complaint," Bytyqi told reporters after Wednesday's event on signing a Memorandum of Cooperation with JETRO Japan External Trade Organization. 

So far, he added, the Market Inspectorate's reports show no indication of any price fixing. 

"We want to see if there are any indications of any price fixing. If there is an increase only in a certain market, it can be for various reasons, but if it happens with all markets at the same time for the same product, then there can be indications of agreed price fixing. There are no such indications so far from the reports we get from the State Market Inspectorate," said Bytyqi. 

The “guaranteed prices” measure was introduced on September 20, 2023, and ended on March 1, 2024. It ensured that many food products were sold at prices 10 percent lower than the ones they had on August 1 of 2023. The law banning unfair trade practices, which is currently in parliamentary procedure, is expected to yield positive effects putting an end to unfair competition in trade, with expectations that it will also lead to a decrease in prices of food products.

Photo: MIA archive