Nikolay Valkanov: The state's measures to control prices in this form are quite problematic

The measures proposed by the state to control prices in this form are quite problematic and therefore need to be revised, and some of them removed, because they will be counterproductive to the goal sought. This was said by Nikolay Valkanov, executive director of the Association for Modern Trade, in the program “Your Day” on NOVA NEWS. According to him, the measures seem to be made for certain market players, which is quite worrying.
“The measures will not solve the problems of producers, as they are structural and cannot be solved with administrative measures that will give them five cents more in their pockets, because the question is how these five cents will be invested back or spent on consumption”, explained Valkanov. He was categorical that all structural problems in agriculture have been accumulated over the last 30 years, long before retail chains came to Bulgaria.
Nikolai Valkanov noted that according to statistics from the National Revenue Agency, out of over 4 thousand inspections in the retail network for unjustified price increases, only under 10% are proven cases, and there is no such case in large retail chains. “This is where the logical question comes in, if we believe that there is an unjustified increase in prices, why don't we start digging further down the chain, since the NRA currently does not have such powers”, he commented.
According to Valkanov, what needs to be done as measures is to preserve competition, to preserve the freedom of contractual and negotiation relations along the chain. “There are many things that can be done along the chain, but they are related to the huge funds that are spent every year on the “Agriculture” sector without visible effect. You can take all the know-how from Western Europe as cooperation, cooperation. There is no way to improve the situation with administrative measures”, concluded Valkanov.