The Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina government has announced a price reduction of 50 basic foodstuffs by Friday, in response to the recent boycott of shops. The Minister of Trade of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Amir Hasičević, stated that the boycott was recognized as a signal from citizens and that work is being done to restore prices, not just freeze them, Fena writes.
“As a government, we have received this signal and are trying to respond. By Friday, we will not freeze 50 basic food items, as some say now that they have increased, but we are returning them, so we are doing a price reduction. These are short-term measures, but the long-term solution is to increase wages and employment,” Hasičević emphasized.
The session of the House of Representatives of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina will also discuss the Draft Law on Price Control today, which provides clear conditions under which the state can intervene in market processes, including cases when inflation exceeds five percent per year on a monthly basis.
“The main novelty is that the situation in which the state can take measures and interventions is clearly defined. The law implies state intervention in extraordinary circumstances in the event that the basic elements of a market economy fail. “We expect to have this law by the middle of this year, which will adequately respond to these crisis situations,” he said.
He added that, among other things, they also agreed on certain “triggers”, which are when and in what situations these measures are adopted, since this has not been clearly specified so far.
“They said, among other things, that this is a five percent increase in annual inflation on a monthly basis, so a price council will be formed to monitor this and take measures. We had a lot of questions about why the council, and that is because we want to contribute to the democracy of this process,” Hasičević emphasized.
These days, as he added, we are witnessing boycotts regarding prices and consumer reactions in the market, and in the context of the new legal solution, the council would be composed of representatives of the government, chambers of commerce and trades and civil society organizations, primarily employers’ and consumers’ associations, who should adopt joint measures.
“When it comes to these measures, for the first time they are of a temporal nature and the draft law stipulates that the measure can last a maximum of six months, and after the evaluation of those results, an additional six months and then its effects are measured. What is also important in this law is that very high misdemeanor penalties are provided for the perpetrators, as well as administrative measures ranging from the confiscation of property benefits to the closure of the facility,” said the Minister of Trade.
