Given our mentality, it will be interesting to see how successful the store boycott announced for today will be. Will it be effective if the majority decides not to buy anything? While we await the boycott in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), positive news is coming from Croatia.
“I definitely won’t be going shopping tomorrow,” David Jozic clearly stated yesterday. He hopes that most citizens of BiH will join the boycott. “Just so it doesn’t all remain as social media posts,” he says. Prices have risen unjustifiably, with the key reason being the desire for extra profit, according to an analysis by the Consumer Protection Ombudsman Institution. That is why the boycott is fully justified.
“Retailers are doing this without strong reasoning. The price of oil and other factors aren’t rising nearly as much as store prices. A boycott is needed; we need to stay away from shopping for several days for the impact to be felt,” said David Jozic.
The analysis showed that all the justifications used for price increases are baseless. It states that the current oil prices should have actually led to lower prices for other goods. Citizens say they will support the boycott but are unsure whether it will force retailers to lower prices.
“We can boycott today, but what happens after? Prices will keep rising. The result will be weak,” “I’ll support it, but I don’t think it will change anything,” “Nothing is respected here, it’s a disaster. Prices are too high. There’s no solution here, everyone does as they please, there’s no state, no authority,” “Everything is overpriced. I don’t think the boycott will work, but we’ll try,” are some of the opinions of citizens.
As the boycott was announced, the Minister of Trade of Republika Srpska (RS) explained what is more cost-effective to buy.
“This minister personally capped the price of a 500–600 gram loaf of bread at a maximum of 1.90 BAM in RS, yet bakers complain that they produce that bread and no one buys it. People buy a bread roll for 0.80 BAM, while for just a bit more money, they could get a loaf of bread, which will certainly last longer than one or two rolls,” said Denis Sulic, Minister of Trade of RS.
Prices have risen by between 50% and even 200%. The impact of global market events has often been cited as a justification, but in practice, the biggest cause lies within the domestic supply chain.
“Sometimes I don’t know whether these justifications are so unconvincing and untrue because they lack the creativity to come up with something more sensible, or simply because we’ve allowed them to do whatever they want without even making an effort to provide a justification that makes sense,” said economic analyst Igor Gavran.
“Everything has gone up by 100%. Yesterday, bread was 1.60 BAM, now it’s 2.20 BAM. Unbelievable. Everything has gone up – milk and everything else. A catastrophe,” “Milk has gone up way too much. In just two days, 0.80 BAM. That’s essential for children. Not to mention bread. Rolls are expensive,” citizens added.
A boycott, economic analysts say, can be a way to lower prices. For greater effects, it needs to last longer than a single day. The Federal Administration for Inspection Affairs says it is conducting intensive inspections. A statistical overview of these activities will be compiled next week. We heard the same message during the peak of inflation.
A four-member family now needs 1.200 BAM more than they did four years ago. Prices have skyrocketed. During the boycott, citizens will either send a warning message to retailers, or, if retailers ignore the boycott, they will send a message that prices can continue rising as they have so far.
