Romania prolonges price-capping scheme for basic food goods

Romania’s prime minister, Marcel Ciolacu, announced that he obtained retailers’ consent for a 60-day extension of the price-capping scheme for basic food goods.

By the time this two-month period expires, the government hopes to reach a more flexible arrangement between the state, the retailers and those involved in the distribution and processing, such as to keep the prices under control and guarantee fair treatment for the Romanian producers of inputs and processing companies, Profit.ro reported.

The scheme, enforced in August 2023 and prolonged once at the end of October, would have otherwise expired at the end of January.

The list of the products subject to the scheme will be slightly adjusted, for example, to exclude sweet bread.

The average price of the food goods subject to the scheme decreased by 2.5% as of August compared to the period before its enactment, and in December, it was 1.3% below the period before the scheme, according to data published by the government.

The goods included on the list of basic food items include bread, milk, white cheese, yoghurt, maize flour, wheat flour, eggs, sunflower oil, poultry, pork, fruits and vegetables (not packaged), potatoes, sugar, tomato sauce, sweet bread, cream, margarine and yeast – all in the most basic format.

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