Knežević notes that the Government should also cap the prices of basic food items.

Ana Knežević from the Consumer association appeared as a guest and commented on the huge increase in prices and the blow to household budgets, as well as the Government's measures, reports N1.

“Consumers have felt nothing, they were deceived because a VAT reduction had been announced since February, we all expected lower prices, and instead prices are rising and there is no end in sight,” said Ana Knežević, commenting on the Government's VAT reduction on solar panels, and added:

“People are already procuring firewood and pellets, we have had problems with solar panels for a long time, the VAT reduction will negligibly help the energy situation. Plenković said that consumers are not aware that they are paying a price for electricity ten times lower than on the market, and I think the prime minister is not aware that for most consumers even this price is an extremely heavy blow to the household budget.”

On the introduction of the euro and the possible exploitation of the opportunity in which traders could hit customers' wallets even harder by raising prices, Knežević said: “Secret shoppers are in the field, in August we record only in kuna and the comparison starts from September. We have a list of items and services set by the Ministry of Economy, which we must monitor – basic items (sugar, milk, flour, rice, pasta, coffee), services in restaurants and cafés, banking fees, hair salons…”

She points out that they are recording in Zagreb, Sisak and Pula. “I don't know about other associations, the Split association gave up so that county is not covered,” she adds.

She also explains what it looks like in the field: “We monitor 60 traders and 36 service providers – whether there are dual prices, whether the fixed exchange rate is displayed, whether the prices are correctly converted… If we notice irregularities, we report them to the State Inspectorate and then they react. If it is determined that the price is to the detriment of consumers, the inspection must punish the trader, they have instruments under the State Inspectorate Act and consumer protection.”

They will also publish blacklists. “There was a lot of talk about that, we thought the Ministry would publish blacklists, but they left it up to us. We said we would publish them if we had evidence that someone was violating the laws. From September 5 we have an obligation to publish on the website the lists we monitor, it will be seen which traders and products will violate the provisions. We will monitor them until the end of 2023,” says Knežević.

Knežević notes that the Government should also cap the prices of basic food items. “The price of sugar went up 40 percent in one week. The Government must be aware of that, I don't know whether anyone is taking it into account. Oil has gone up almost one hundred percent in a year. They should cap prices for basic food items if they want to protect living standards. Banking fees are rising, I don't understand why… It's a big blow,” believes Knežević.

Source: poslovni.hr