Csaba Lentner: prices have decreased in 53 of the 62 product categories found in the price monitor
Currently, the Economic Competition Authority (GVH) can act most effectively in the area of “blatant overpricing”, the operation of the price monitor has lived up to expectations. However, the competitiveness of the Hungarian food industry is very low – economist Csaba Lentner, professor of the National Public Service University, told Növekedes.hu in an interview published on Tuesday.
The economist told the newspaper that the GVH’s fact-finding activity launched in the spring, followed by the price monitoring system, proved to be an effective tool for curbing inflation.
In the consumer basket, the purchase of food has the largest proportion for most social groups, so the development of food prices greatly influences inflation – he indicated, calling it regrettable that after the introduction of official price regulation at the beginning of 2022, there were a series of merchant overcharges on the food market.
He went on to say that the official food prices introduced by the government at the beginning of last year largely reflected good intentions and social sensitivity, but mainly the larger food chains circumvented the government’s intention and even caused the opposite effect.
In many cases, their inventory of officially priced products did not meet the needs, while a significant margin was placed on similar, so-called substitute products. This is how it happened that, for example, the prices of milk and milk products rose by 80 percent, he added.
Related news
Competition Authority proceedings have been launched against Decathlon’s Hungarian subsidiary
According to the GVH, the sports store chain offers misleading…
Read more >Despite economic recovery, the number of insolvencies has increased in the Central and Eastern European region
The annual insolvency report for Central and Eastern Europe (CEE)…
Read more >Uber is charging below the official price
Uber returned to Budapest a year ago – and not…
Read more >Related news
GKI Analysis: The GKI business climate index remained unchanged in June, but companies’ inflation expectations decreased further
According to a survey by GKI Economic Research Ltd. –…
Read more >An unusual competition could create the shopping experience of the future
Registration is now open for Hungary’s first shopping mall hackathon.…
Read more >Croatian real estate fever subsides: investors are looking for new targets
The Croatian coast has been unwaveringly popular among Czech holiday…
Read more >