Moldova abolishes state regulation of prices for socially important goods

CHISINAU. May 13 (Interfax) - Moldova has abandoned the practice of state regulation of prices for socially important goods, introduced in the pre-pandemic and pandemic period, Moldovan Minister of Economy Yevgeny Osmokescu said.

"Restricting trade markups on socially important goods was a temporary measure. In our view, we need to have targeted measures for vulnerable groups of the population, and not for all people, who are gaining an advantage from the overall situation applied to the Republic of Moldova," Osmokescu was quoted by the bani.md publication as telling journalists.

The minister said that retaining an upper threshold for markups on goods could cause the competitive environment to become distorted and have a negative effect on local producers. "In the Republic of Moldova, competition becomes distorted when certain companies gain an advantage over our producers. It is now necessary for us to develop and integrate programs for vulnerable groups of the population," the minister said.

On April 30, the government of Moldova repealed the decree adopted in 2016, which imposed a limit on commercial markups on socially important goods. The decree stipulated that socially important goods could be sold with a maximum markup of 20% of the purchase price, 10% for bread and baked goods and 40% for socially important groceries processed on an industrial scale.

The list of socially important goods included key groceries: bread, milk, kefir, curd cheese, sour cream, butter, sunflower oil, flour, rice, buckwheat, semolina, oatmeal and baby food.