Prime Minister of North Macedonia Dimitar Kovačevski said today that the list of products marked "Guaranteed price" is being expanded and announced that starting Wednesday the prices of soft drinks, carbonated and non-carbonated water and beer, as well as additional fruits and vegetables, will be reduced.
"With today's government decision, non-alcoholic beverages, carbonated and non-carbonated water and beer also enter the list of guaranteed prices. We also adopted a new decision to reduce the margin for fruits and vegetables, which will further reduce the prices of these products by up to 30 percent," Kovačevski said at the conference. for journalists.
He pointed out that producers of soft drinks and water joined the "Guaranteed Price" program socially responsibly and on their own initiative.
"At today's session, the Government of North Macedonia, at the proposal of the Ministry of Economy, passed new decisions on lowering prices in the wholesale and retail trade of light beer and lager beer, carbonated and non-carbonated drinks, with the exception of energy drinks, mineral carbonated and non-carbonated natural spring water" , said Kovačevski.
With that decision, the highest prices of those products are determined at the level of September 19, reduced by 10 percent in wholesale trade.
Retailers are obliged to set prices and clearly mark them with the inscription "Guaranteed price". Those prices will be valid until November 30.
At today's session, the Government set the highest trade profit margins for fresh fruit and vegetables, in wholesale trade at 10 percent, and in retail trade at 15 percent.
"With this, we expect a drop in the price of fruits and vegetables by around 30 percent. Before us are decisions on the reduction of import duties on fresh vegetables, rice, oranges, lemons, mandarins, as well as the reduction of customs duties on dairy products with a fat content of more than 10 percent," he said. Prime Minister of North Macedonia.
On September 19, the government already made it possible for 50 products in 24 categories of the bakery, dairy and meat industry to be cheaper by at least 10 percent compared to the price they had on August 1.
"It is expected that the price reduction will be from 10 to 40 percent for certain products, which we can already see in markets throughout the country. I am convinced that with the guaranteed price of products and other social measures, we will be able to stabilize inflation by the end of the year." Kovačevski said.
This, as he pointed out, was already shown with the increase in salaries in July this year, when the growth of inflation was exceeded.
"With the September wage increase of 10 percent, as well as the linear increase of pensions in accordance with the methodology established earlier, we expect double-digit inflation to fall to eight percent, and for food to be up to five percent," Kovačevski said.
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