Food inflation soars 12.2%
It appears there is no end to food price hikes, as in just one month, June, increases of 2.1% were recorded compared to May 2023. Therefore, although the general consumer price index fell below 2% in June to 1.8%, so-called food inflation jumped to 12.2%.
The recent pessimistic forecast by the Bank of Greece for a slow de-escalation was actually optimistic, as we are in fact seeing food inflation surge again.
After April, which saw a marginal decrease of 0.1% in food prices compared to March, the increases came back and were 1.8% in May compared to April and 2.1% in June compared with May.
The fact that food shortages mainly affect the most economically vulnerable households has led the government to continue measures such as the Market Pass, the Household Basket and the cap on profit margins, at least until the end of 2023, although everyone agrees they have a character of state protectionism of the market and contradict the core ideology of the ruling party.
On Friday Development Minister Kostas Skrekas also announced extra measures to protect households from the price hikes and the imported, as he said, inflation, as well as to deal with unfair commercial practices and profiteering:
• The extension of inspections to the entire supply chain and not just to supermarkets.
• The upgrade of the e-Katanalotis platform, providing more information to consumers and helping them find out in which stores they will find the products they want at the lowest prices. Kathimerini understands plans provide for consumers making a “basket” of supermarket items with prices from several chains and not just one, so that they can make an even better price comparison.
• Dealing with misleading discounts, a matter in which interventions had already been made by the previous political leadership of the ministry. “Permanent discounts are not real discounts,” said Skrekas, announcing inspections and fines.
In any case, the above measures certainly do not address the root causes, i.e. the lack of competition in the market and the significant dependence on imported raw materials, plus the phenomenon of companies’ “greedflation.”
