September 20 (SeeNews) - North Macedonia's government said it has decided to impose price controls on several basic foods in a bid to stifle inflation.
Under the decision, prices of 25 food product categories will be decreased by 10% compared with their prices on August 1, and will remain unchanged by the end of November, North Macedonia's government said in a press release on Tuesday.
The regulation applies to rice, flour, bread, biscuits, wafers, pasta, meat and meat products, milk and dairy products, eggs, fruit and vegetables.
Furthermore, retail traders are prohibited from offering discounted sales and promotional sales of products, except when the products are offered at a discounted price due to shelf life expiration.
The measure is expected to lower food inflation by 4-5%, North Macedonia's economy minister, Kreshnik Bekteshi, said in the statement.
North Macedonia's average consumer prices went up 8.3% year-on-year in August, after increasing by an annual 8.4% in July. Prices of food and non-alcoholic beverages were 10.8% higher in August, compared with the same month in 2022.