Romania's Govt. wouldn't terminate food price capping before elections

Romanian prime minister Marcel Ciolacu, the president of the Social Democratic Party (PSD), announced that the food price capping scheme would be prolonged until the end of the year and a new scheme will be designed to cap the energy prices "until 2026."

Romania set in place last autumn a scheme to cap the markups charged by food processing, distribution, and retail companies and repeatedly prolonged it until the end of March. The central bank noted the bill's effects, but detailed analysis showed that the impact on living costs was marginal.

In turn, the energy capping scheme in place since 2022 and scheduled to be phased off next spring (2025) had a significant impact on households' spending.

Romania will hold presidential and parliamentary elections in September and December, respectively.

"I back the amendment submitted today in Parliament by the PSD, which extends the price capping scheme for basic food prices until December 31, 2024! It is a justified measure until inflation falls below 5% – at the end of the year, according to central bank's expectations," Marcel Ciolacu wrote on Facebook on March 18.

"In the coming days, we will also come up with an improved mechanism for capping energy and gas prices, which will provide additional help to both the population and the economy until 2026," continued Ciolacu.

(Photo source: Inquam Photos/George Calin)