Competition Council head Chiritoiu: food prices in Romania 60 pct of those abroad

Food prices in Romania represent 60 percent of those abroad, therefore Romania is placed in a good position, Competition Council head Bogdan Chiritoiu argued today at a conference.

Romania is not in a bad position in what concerns the price of food products, Chiritoiu told the audience, adding that a generalized surge in food prices can be tackled via microeconomic measures. The measures include the fiscal policy of the government and the monetary policy of the National Bank, he explained.

We expect that the introduction of the ‘prices monitor,’ created after a joint initiative of the Competition Council and the National Authority for Consumer Protection, will put pressure on companies to cut food prices, Chiritoiu said. “Statistics show that food prices in Romania represent on average, 60 percent of that in the EU. Therefore, what costs RON 100 in Europe, in Romania it costs RON 60. It is a fairly good situation,” he argued.

Chiritoiu also said that, compared to a decade ago, when Romania had not yet joined the EU, the 4 percent increase in food prices recorded in 2017 is not very significant.”Before we joined the EU, inflation in Romania was recorded in two digit figures. We were used to have 10 percent growth every year. Since a few years we count ourselves among healthier countries with a smaller inflation. Prices have gone up, but for years the food prices increase was zero or they even decreased,” he argued.