Skopje, 13 March 2024 (MIA) – Deputy Prime Minister for economic affairs, Fatmir Bytyqi, said Wednesday he believes the prices of food products are already back in order after the Government’s “guaranteed price” measure ended, with some companies stating they will retain the guaranteed prices until May 15. The Deputy PM said the law banning unfair trade practices, set to be discussed by Parliament on Wednesday, will provide a systemic solution for such issues.

“I believe that order has been established. The initial reactions of businessmen last week were really positive and encouraging, and they said that since they want to be socially responsible, they will retain the same capped prices until May 15. Some companies did this and it is really encouraging to see that, despite everything that happened in the past period, businessmen know how to be socially responsible and not exert pressure on the end users when there aren’t any disruptions in the value chain, the supply chain. Of course, the law is a systemic solution, a solution that we haven’t had before and that didn’t exist in Europe before either, this is a new solution based on the EU directives and I think it is the right path that we are all looking for, and that is the path to European integration. Solutions like these show the benefits of our EU integration,” said Bytyqi in answer to a journalist’s question.

The Deputy PM said the State Market Inspectorate is carrying out inspections and monitoring the situation, noting that it will act appropriately once it identifies actions contrary to the legal provisions. Two supermarkets have already been fined, he said.

“We really wanted to show that in difficult times, the Government will go as far as to adopt measures even if they are contrary to the principles of the market economy, but I think that the time has come, now that we’ve all learned the lesson, to jointly fight against all phenomena that emerge during a crisis and that we are virtuous enough to do business and also create policies and measures in a way that befits a European country,” said Bytyqi.