Podcast in English
Text size
Bulgarian National Radio © 2024 All Rights Reserved

Competition watchdog scratches affordable products initiative

Photo: BGNES

The Commission on Protection of Competition has cancelled the Ministry of Economy’s initiative “Available to you” which aimed to lower the prices of around 50 products from the small consumer basket at chain stores.

The initiative was supposed to have been launched on 1 November. According to the regulator, the initiative will result in restricting price competition among traders and is a violation of the constitutional principles of free economic initiative. The Commission is recommending “providing individual food packages and a warm lunch” as a way of coping with the increase in prices.

“The initiative is good, it is European and does not distort competition in any way, but it is very much delayed – by one year,” Assoc. Prof. Ognyan Boyukliev from the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences’ Economic Research Institute commented for the BNR. “It is a good thing there will be no price caps. Price caps were put in place in Hungary that have already been done away with because they led to shortages,” Assoc. Prof. Ognyan Boyukliev said.

The Ministry of Economy said that they would not give up the initiative aimed at achieving better prices for consumers. "We have created a basis for competition between the various participants in the initiative for these 50 essential products," Minister of Economy Bogdan Bogdanov said in a televised interview. According to him, talks on the topic between the ministry and the Commission for the Protection of Competition are forthcoming.




Последвайте ни и в Google News Showcase, за да научите най-важното от деня!
Listen to the daily news from Bulgaria presented in "Bulgaria Today" podcast, available in Spotify.

More from category

Dobromir Zhivkov, Market Links

Market Links: 35% of Bulgarians want election to be annulled

More than 35% of people in this country support the idea of a full annulment of the 27 October early election for parliament , indicates a national survey financed and carried out jointly by bTV and Market Links sociological agency. 26% of the..

published on 11/21/24 11:29 AM

Only 10% of pregnant underage girls in Bulgaria have an abortion

The youngest grandmother in Bulgaria is just 28, Dr. Antonio Dushepeev, head of the maternity ward at the University General Hospital in Burgas said for the BNR. 149 underage girls gave birth at the hospital last year alone, the youngest of whom was..

published on 11/21/24 9:59 AM

Bulgaria to grant WHO EUR 100,000 in aid for the civilian population in Gaza

The Council of Ministers has approved the draft of a donation agreement between the World Health Organization and Bulgaria on the provision of a voluntary contribution, amounting to EUR 100,000, in support of the activities of the organization in the..

published on 11/21/24 9:20 AM