Development Minister Takis Theodorikakos and other government officials have obviously failed to convince supermarkets and their suppliers to proceed to a substantial decrease of prices.
Instead, he announced on Monday a “price freeze” in summer and agreements for price cuts as of September.
After a meeting chaired by PM Kyriakos Mitsotakis, the end of the profit margin cap as of Tuesday, a commitment by industry and supermarkets to keep prices unchanged during the summer period, and the implementation from early September of a national agreement for substantial price reductions on basic consumer goods were discussed
“Tackling the cost of living and inflation is a government priority,” Minister Theodorikakos said, noting that the easing of international inflationary pressures, following the normalization of oil prices due to the end of the war in the Middle East, creates the conditions for cost reductions to be reflected in product prices.
He stated that there was a shared understanding at the meeting with representatives of industry and supermarkets that, in the first phase, prices will remain fully stable over the two summer months, with no increases whatsoever.
This commitment, he added, also concerns approximately 2,000 product codes whose prices had been reduced by an average of 6% in recent months due to the application of the profit margin cap.
“The commitment from businesses is that these reductions will remain in place over the summer two-month period for these 2,000 product codes,” Theodorikakos stressed.
He also announced that by early September, preparations will be completed for the implementation, as part of a national social agreement, of a new framework of significant price reductions on key products widely used by Greek households. He clarified that the aim is not the number of products included, but the coverage of essential categories so as to provide meaningful relief to consumers.
It is recalled that for the majority of Greeks, the high cost of living in general and the high prices in supermarkets in particular is their Number One problems, with more than 25% of them to be at the verge of poverty.
With parliamentary elections ahead, Mitsotakis presses for relief but without success, so far.
