“A new four-year period begins with vision and hope and of course a plan so that we can very quickly achieve what the country needs,” said the Minister of Development, Kostas Skrekas, on the show “Good Morning” and Giorgos Autias, on SKAI.

When asked about the accuracy, Mr. Skrekas said that “inflation is indeed persistent and is suffering the Greek family. To be precise, overall inflation is 2%, one of the lowest in Europe, but in food it is around 12% and this really makes it very difficult for the Greek family” and he added that “while in a number of food products we have a de-escalation of inflation , the big increase in inflation comes from the fruits we have around 28%.”

“The climate crisis has hit agricultural crops and this has pushed up prices. Also, one of the issues we face is the lack of manpower, they don’t exist. These are two structural elements that raise the prices” underlined Mr. Skrekas.

Anti-inflation measures

“It is imperative that we proceed with new measures to tame this imported inflation,” the Minister of Development said and reiterated that one of the measures of the previous four years, “the household basket”, will continue.

Regarding the issue of profiteering, Mr. Skrekas emphasized that “a ceiling will be imposed on the profit margin in the entire supply chain. The controls are focused on supermarkets and will be extended to suppliers, supply chains, and also to producers within Greece.”

Mr. Skrekas also referred to our political will to protect PDO products. “Mass checks are currently being carried out and fines have been imposed on hotels and restaurants that attempt to mislead consumers by offering counterfeits that overcharge them.”