Greek Development ministry is conducting inspections on multinational enterprises over their profit margins along with a survey to find out which products, currently offered in the Greek market, present a big difference on prices in comparison with other EU countries, Development Minister Costas Skrekas said on Tuesday.
In comments made to ERT TV, Skrekas said that up to now suppliers have informed the ministry they will cut prices by at least 5% for a six-month period to 213 products and that the ministry wanted to raise this number to more than 500 products. He added that price cuts start from 5% and could reach 10-12%.
The minister said the government is implementing a plan to deal with inflationary pressures focusing on supporting incomes, market inspections, combatting profiteering, boosting competition and strengthening the power of consumer. Skrekas noted that the ministry's goal was to stop the greedflation phenomenon.
"We are conducting inspections, we have set a ceiling on profit margins. Any company, any supplier exceeds this ceiling will be heavily fined," Skrekas said, adding that multinational companies are currently inspected for importing detergents and personal care products. "We will protect Greek consumers and the Greek family and were determined to do it," Skrekas noted, adding that inspections will intensify and that enterprises must respect households' needs.
The Greek minister said the food inflation slowed to 9.6% in September, in comparison with 10.5% in Spain, while he reiterated that reducing VAT rate did to offered the expected results in other countries.