Skopje, 25 April 2023 (MIA) – Price control measures were implemented in EU member states due to the scale of economic difficulties and the need to intervene because of rising food and energy prices in some countries. Maintaining controlled prices in the long run is unsustainable and can lead to shortages of goods and services, said the World Bank’s Senior Economist for the Western Balkans, Sanja Madzarevic-Sujster, on Tuesday.

“I am personally against controlling prices, however if we take a look at research for EU member states and the margins for Macedonia, we will see that due to imperfect competition there was an increase in margins, i.e., profits, that can’t be explained or justified by anything except for flaws in the market that benefit a few participants in the market while harming a big portion of the population, especially the most vulnerable segments of the population,” said Madzarevic-Sujster, who presented the latest Western Balkans Regular Economic Report on Tuesday in Skopje.

She stressed that the European Union proposed a solidarity tax as an emergency response to the crisis, which would apply to companies making disproportionately increased profits in recent years.

“I think that similar measures were proposed by your Government and Parliament and this is a short-term answer to the price hikes in order to encourage more and better competition,” said Madzarevic-Sujster.

In answer to a journalist’s question regarding the Constitutional Court’s Decision to raise the wages of elected and appointed officials by 78 percent, Madzarevic-Sujster said she believes that the decisions needs to be supplemented, and the Government is working on legislation to do so.

“I don’t think that it is appropriate to discuss this issue at the moment, but at the same time we believe that, apart from elected and appointed officials, this issue should also be assessed when it comes to employees in the public sector, when it comes to job description, wage coefficients. I think that this was also one of the goals of the Strategy on Public Administration which was drafted in line with EU recommendations for a more professional public administration that will also be more adequately paid. I think that there is a need to supplement this decision and I think the Government is working on legislation to achieve this,” said Madzarevic-Sujster.

Photo: MIA