It is too early to make a comprehensive assessment of the measures to control prices. There are good things in the draft law, but also worrying things. The good thing is that someone is paying attention to public expectations and it is assessed that there is a problem and a solution is being sought. This was stated by the chairman of the Bulgarian Industrial Chamber Dobri Mitrev in the program “From the Day” on BNT.
It was not very clear to me what the purpose of the two submitted bills was, because from the public speech of their submitters, I understood two things – On the one hand, it is claimed that the purpose of the law is to distribute VAT more fairly and clarify pricing, on the other hand, it was announced as a measure against the growth of outrageous prices. If there is a distribution of VAT at the same value, its value remains the same, that is, this neither stops nor limits the growth of prices, the price will simply be distributed by the participants in the chain, but it does not reach consumers, he added.
The markup is not a profit. There is also covering costs inside - transportation, storage, staff salaries. Fairness is a very relative concept, it is different for everyone, Dobri Mitrev specified.
If consumption is less, of course the price will be higher. We are a very small market. When an analysis is made, we need to look at what the problems are in our market, and not in other European markets, he pointed out.
If the terms are better formulated in the law, so that they are not interpreted differently and so that there is no uncertainty in business, we need to start with the deadlines and the speed with which it is implemented. There is no law created in 10 days that can qualitatively solve the problems. We have a systemic problem, and we are trying to solve the end - the price. The CPC's approach with the sectoral analysis is correct. It does not act quickly, it must examine the entire problem. The honest answer is that prices cannot be lowered overnight, because so many factors influence them. Perhaps a country like North Korea could afford to lower prices with a single legislative act, Mitrev explained.
Measures such as price ceilings and mark-ups can work for a very short period of time and then unleash a tsunami when they are released, the BIA chairman warned.