Skopje, 23 February 2022 (MIA) – The market is expected to stabilize after the decision on restricting trade margins enters into force on March 1, Economy Minister Kreshnik Bekteshi has said. He doesn’t believe there will be major price hikes. “We expect prices to drop five to ten percent compared to the existing prices. In case the price of raw material rises, the least we can do is to make sure prices are stabilized,” Bekteshi says in an interview with Telma TV’s political show. He says producers rather than wholesale and retail traders have felt the burden after the price of basic food products was frozen. In 2020 in the midst of the pandemic, Bekteshi notes, some supermarkets in the country recorded net profits amounting from three to 8,5 million euros. “They all received state aid during the pandemic. We have always called for solidarity – the citizens should not always carry the burden of paying more while some companies fail to pay some percentage from the margins,” Minister Bekteshi says. On Tuesday, the government decided to determine the highest trade margins of sales prices of basic food products in wholesale and retail that will be valid from March 1 to May 31. According to the decision, the highest trade margin shall amount up to five percent of the sales price in wholesale and up to ten percent of the sales price in retail, for bread, sugar, salt, flour, sunflower oil, milk, meat and delicatessen, cheese, rice, eggs, pasta, wheat, fruit and vegetables. In general, traders abide by the decision of the government to freeze the prices of basic foodstuffs. “There were 600 inspections and almost all traders respect the price freeze measure,” Aneta Simeska Dimoska, Director of the State Market Inspectorate,” told the show.