site.btaMarkup Cap Planned for Couple of Products in Each Group – Economy Minister

“Most likely there are problems along the entire chain of supply and this leads to an unjustified appreciation,” said caretaker Economy Minister Nikola Stoyanov on Nova TV on Saturday. He was commenting checks carried out in the past weeks into speculative retail prices. 

“All market players agree that something is wrong, which is a good first step - the problem has been identified. We are trying through various measures - awareness, control and legislative measures, to influence and straighten the market,” said Stoyanov. 

He also said how a website for comparing prices of staple foods will work. "On its homepage there are icons of 30 products as well as four commodities. Prices can be compared by regions across Bulgaria or against other European countries," Stoyanov said. 

According to him, this website gives a very useful information for consumers. "For the first time it brings together information from different institutions. It has been necessary for many years to have a common information system regarding food in Bulgaria and this is the beginning," the minister underscored. 

“We are not counting on the website to reduce prices,” he noted. “Through it we can monitor processes and trends. If the wholesale price falls on the website, but the retail price continues to rise - we see that there is a distortion in the chain,” Stoyanov said. There are direct links for sending signals. Separately, there is also information about control activities - about all the checks that have been carried out and by which institution. 

The Minister also commented on the idea of capping the mark-up. "For this we need a change in the law. I'm really counting that it will be the first thing MPs will address," he said. The minister explained that the idea is to cap the markup for one to two items per product group. He said this would distort the market to a minimal extent.

"We will want one to two items from each product group to be at low prices with very low markup so that consumers who are in difficulty can shop for cheaper goods and the market will be minimally distorted," Stoyanov said. He added that this restriction would not affect small shops. 

Of fuel compensation, the minister said new measures are being prepared. "We are thinking of subsidizing transportation in terms of supply to low population areas that are left without shops," he said.