“From Friday onwards, when the package of measures we have taken to deal with accuracy will be fully implemented, we will see in important product categories to their prices are reduced by up to 15%. Categories as they are household cleaners, personal hygiene products, baby diapers, but also a series of consumer goods which are basic for the household’s livelihood”.

This he noted the Minister of Development Kostas Skrekas speaking this morning on ERT1, while regarding the price of baby milk he added that in this category, the price, also after March 1stwill approach the European average.

Mr. Skrekas announced that the price reductions in baby milk and in all categories of products will be made public, so that the consumer can see what the price of these products was before the implementation of the measures and after the implementation of the measures.

“We all recognize that the first issue facing the Greek family is punctuality and for this reason the main priority of the government is to deal with this big problem”, noted the minister and emphasized that in addition to the package of measures taken for the stimulation of competition, is checked on a daily basis and throughout the market and the issue of profiteering. As he reminded, 25,000 audits have been carried out and more than 12 million fines have been imposed for unfair profiteering.

“We believe that the measures we have taken so far, combined with the measures that have been in effect since March 1, will lead to a gradual de-escalation of inflation,” noted the minister.

We are waiting for over 2,000 codes to drop in price

Mr. Skrekas emphasized that from the data for February it appears that large chains in the market “have a reduction in price increases compared to the previous period of the order of 80%.” In other words, 8 out of 10 products that were repriced last year have not been repriced this year either after March 1st we expect over 2,000 codes to drop in price, not to stabilize prices, but on the contrary to reduce them. It is these products that are included in the categories: detergents, household cleaners, personal hygiene products, ie shampoos, shower gels, toothpastes and baby diapers, as well as menstrual products. We will not see the prices of these products stabilize but decrease compared to before the implementation of the measure. We know that in all these categories the reductions we will see will be greater than 10%. They will be permanent reductions. These are not emergency measures.”

The minister explained that promotions are also applied to the new reduced prices and discount coupons and all in-store “consumer actions”.

“Now we believe that the market is being rectified, the commercial practice and the commercial policy of the companies are being rationalized and now we will really see thousands of products, multinational products basically, that is, products that are sold the same or about the same in other countries, we will see them sold in Greece at lower prices”.

In addition, he underlined the importance of the consumer’s use of the eConsumer platform for price comparison, while adding that the platform will be further upgraded in order to make it even more useful.

We will see a faster de-escalation in food inflation as well

More generally, regarding inflation, Mr. Skrekas noted that for an objective picture, we must look at the inflation of the two years, since the intense phenomenon of accuracy began. Based on this comparison “Greece has food inflation of 25%, when the European average is at 24%, when in Germany it is 26%, when in Bulgaria it is 32% and when in Hungary for example it is 47%. The last two countries are also countries that have a salary that is either lower than Greece or roughly the same as Greece. Households actually go to supermarkets and see products at expensive prices and find it really difficult to access. That is why both the “household basket” and the permanent price reduction are in one direction so as to de-escalate inflation and give households access to basic food at lower prices. Beyond that, however, it appears from the data available to the ministry that food inflation persists throughout Europe, not just in Greece. But gradually, with the measures we have taken, we believe that we will see the prices decrease there as well”.

The minister continued by noting that: “Greece has taken the most and most drastic measures of all Europe. Greece is on the edge of Europe. Countries mediate which are not all European, with the result that the supply, the transport of products between Greece and Central Europe, the competition, face problems. Nevertheless, with the measures we have taken we are following the European average and from now on we believe that we will see a faster de-escalation of inflation in food as well, so that households can actually have access to food at lower prices” .

Finally, the minister mentioned that improvements to the development law are planned.