Although citizens have mostly announced that they will boycott stores on Friday due to high prices, the question is how successful the action will be if they rush to the markets the next day and make up for their purchases.
The Chamber of Commerce of Montenegro (PKCG) says that traders are not to blame for inflation, but that what generates it needs to be further analyzed, including the impact of certain economic policy measures. The Government will announce new measures on Thursday, but it is not yet known what they will ultimately entail.
"We have stopped the rise in prices," Prime Minister Milojko Spajić said a little over two months ago, during the budget presentation.
"In October, we have zero percent inflation. That is very significant, because wages increased in October, and November awaits us with zero percent inflation and higher wages," said Spajić on November 18th of last year.
January greeted us, with inflation that a month earlier, according to Monstat, was 2,1 percent, but also with a call to boycott stores on Friday due to high prices, which was welcomed by the Prime Minister.
The Croatians gave us an example, whose one-day boycott halved the usual revenues of their markets.
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On Friday, they will boycott any purchases and services, which includes going to banks, restaurants, gas stations, or using delivery. The boycott of three retail chains and three products will begin the day before for seven days.
"It will be a strong signal, a big signal and a big resistance to trade, to price increases, it will be a strong signal to everyone. Many have underestimated us, and as consumers we have all sent a voice together that we can do it," said Josip Kelemen from the consumer platform "Hello, Inspector" from Croatia.
Our Friday campaign can be successful too, if citizens don't rush to the shops the day after.
Although Montenegrin citizens mostly say that they will respond to the boycott, there are not infrequent people who blame the daily price increases on the policies implemented by the government.
While they do not respond to these criticisms, the PKCG states that the analysis, conducted by professors from the Faculty of Economics, showed that the price increase is not a consequence of irrational behavior of traders, but of factors that the economy cannot influence. Therefore, they do not support the boycott and consider it unjustified.
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"The analysis also showed that the trade sector is not a generator of inflation, and that price increases are inevitable when wages grow faster than productivity. Therefore, it is necessary to further analyze the generators of inflation, including the impact of certain economic policy measures. Also, the administrative apparatus has been significantly enlarged, and with the growth of wages, which is not accompanied by an increase in labor productivity, we have come to a paradoxical situation where personal income in the public sector is higher than income in the real sector, i.e. the economy, which fills the budget and finances the public sector. The dialogue on these issues must be intense in order to avoid making decisions that may reduce economic activity," said the PKCG.
And, one of the decisions announced in August by Prime Minister Spajić is to establish another state-owned company that will be responsible for commodity reserves, but also for directly delivering basic foodstuffs from those reserves to citizens.
"This is a sustainable way to fight high prices, because limiting margins will definitely be a great help to the budget of our citizens, but we must have a long-term sustainable solution to price growth and price stabilization in Montenegro, and we think that this company is the optimal answer," Spajić said on August 10 last year.
Five and a half months later, the Government did not respond to Television Vijesti today about what has been done on this issue, but the Prime Minister announced that this week he will also decide on the extension of the limited price campaign, which expires on January 31st, as well as on commodity reserves.
Minister of Economic Development Nik Đeljošaj told "Vijesti" that at the session on Thursday he will propose that the limited price action be extended for another three months, until April 30th.
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