February 8 (SeeNews) - Bulgaria's caretaker government said it is proposing to introduce a mechanism for daily monitoring and control of prices along the entire supply chain of goods in the country while avoiding state intervention in the free market.
The proposed mechanism will aim to track the movement and pricing of goods from producers and manufacturers to the point of sale, be it large retail chains or small local shops, interim prime minister Galab Donev said in a statement on Tuesday following a meeting with ministers, customs officials and consumer organisation representatives. He did not provide further details on how the price controls would be implemented.
"What we found are differences in the prices of goods from the manufacturer through the retailer to the store counter, by margins of 20% to 30% and more," Donev stated. He added that the envisaged price controls, to involve the national customs and revenue agencies, will target unfair commercial and competition practices across the supply chain. The controls are expected to ensure that prices of goods in large supermarket chains, for instance, are equivalent across the EU countries in which the retailers operate.
Bulgaria's consumer price inflation reached 16.9% in December last year, with annual inflation averaging 15.3% in 2022, according to the national statistical office. Inflation under the Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP) was 14.3% in December, or the highest out of the five EU member states in Southeast Europe (SEE).
In 2021, before the Ukraine war and energy crisis fuelled inflation across Europe, prices of certain food categories in Bulgaria such as milk, cheese and eggs or edible oils and fats exceeded the average prices in 36 European countries by 11.2% and 31.6% respectively, Eurostat data showed in December. The EU statistical office compared prices for food, beverages and tobacco in the 27-member bloc, EFTA members Iceland, Norway and Switzerland as well as in Albania, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, Turkey, and Bosnia and Herzegovina.