The measures of the Government of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, known as “locked prices”, will expire on March 1 and the market will be left free to set the prices of basic food and hygiene products. On March 1, according to the announcement of the Federal Ministry of Trade, the full operation of the “Compare prices” application will be enabled, which should make it easier for citizens to choose the most favorable purchase.
For more than two years, the measures of the federal government kept about 60 basic food and hygiene products “locked up” and, according to the assessment of the relevant Ministry, they stabilized the prices of these and similar products. Pensioners, however, do not think that this price locking significantly helped this category of citizens, because the prices of public transport, energy and medicine were not covered by this measure. They consider the claims of the Ministry of Trade that citizens, buying these “locked” products, could save about 50 BAM per purchase, unrealistic.
“For example, I don’t settle. I buy three items, what I can, what I can. To hear that someone buys those two strollers and saves 50 BAM, that’s only in science fiction movies.”, according to Fuad Siljkovic, vice-president of the Union of Pensioners Tuzla.
The prices of these products will now freely form the market, and an application for mobile phones called “Compare prices” will serve to help citizens in their search for the best prices. With the help of this application, citizens will be able to compare the prices of around 3,000 products in stores in their place of residence. You will be able to compare prices by retail chains, prices in the nearest stores, or create your own shopping basket and then check with the help of the application where it is best to buy it. As for pensioners, they do not find this application useful.
“When pensioners, with their bleary eyes, with gnarly fingers, let me call them that, with all the other flaws, that they now go to mobile phones and applications and add up from south to west, where, in which shopping center, or which shopping center has that price package.”
Economist Damir Bećirović assesses that two years ago, the federal government wanted to show that it was doing something against inflation with the “price locking” measure, but that in essence this measure did not bring any special results. He believes that the abolition of this measure will not cause an increase in prices, and he considers the application “Compare prices” useful in terms of encouraging competition.
“Only competition can keep prices at the right level, i.e. the real market level, and all other measures, both by the Government and by the consumers themselves, if they are given space, can only lead to a monopoly position and shortages or higher prices.”, Becirovic added.
The application could be useful to citizens if it is well designed and updated, believes Bećirović, but given that the government is behind the application, the question of tendering and selecting the company that will maintain the application arises. We have negative experiences in this area, but time and the experience of citizens will best evaluate the “Compare Prices” application.
