Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić presented a new package of economic measures to, as he announced, improve the living standards of citizens.
These measures include limiting the margins of the largest retail chains for around 3.000 products, reducing interest rates on loans, amending the Law on Enforcement and Security, discounts on the price of electricity, and lower prices for firewood.
Margins, which represent the difference between the purchase price paid by retailers and the final price paid by consumers, will be a maximum of 20 percent for around 3.000 products.
This measure covers 24 retailers, but not shops.
At a press conference, Vučić announced the adoption of the Trade Law and the Consumer Protection Law.
The reduction in interest rates on cash and consumer loans applies to citizens with incomes and pensions of up to 100 thousand dinars.
An amendment to the Law on Enforcement and Security (LES) has been announced to prevent the seizure of real estate if it is the only family property up to 60 square meters and if the residence at that address was registered at least five years before the submission of the enforcement proposal.
The President of Serbia announced the second part of the economic measures for mid-September.
Vučić presented economic measures in the midst of protests that have lasted for more than nine months.
Student-led protests erupted after the collapse of a concrete canopy at the Novi Sad Railway Station, which killed 16 people and seriously injured one.
Protesters are demanding accountability for the tragedy in Novi Sad, and later the demands include calling early parliamentary elections.
The government is rejecting the possibility of calling early elections at this time.
First reactions
The opposition Green Left Front (ZLF) assessed that restrictions on trade margins will not lead to a permanent reduction in food prices.
The ZLF believes that "in the current political circumstances, such measures represent an attempt at political marketing aimed at stabilizing the rating of the ruling regime."
They stated that the experiences of Romania, Hungary, and North Macedonia, which the government is referring to, have shown that food price reductions occur in the first and possibly second month of the measure's validity, and that after that, prices gradually return to their original level.
The opposition Freedom and Justice Party (SSP) announced that only solutions copied from Romania and Hungary were adopted, "countries in which they have not yielded results, and therefore will not help the citizens of Serbia."
"Vučić cannot, after 13 years in power, turn from Superhik into Robin Hood," the SSP stated.
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