Minister Bogdanov: The Ministry of Economy launched an initiative "Affordable for you"

The Ministry of Economy and Industry initiated the "Affordable for you" initiative. It aims to offer affordable prices to consumers of essential products. This was announced by the Minister of Economy, Bogdan Bogdanov, who attended the first edition of the forum "More than trade", organized by the Association for Modern Trade (AMT).

According to him, the idea, which is to be discussed with the business at a meeting tomorrow at the ministry, is that every week the chains that decide to get involved will offer food at the lowest possible price for them from several main groups. These include fresh fruits and vegetables, fats, dairy and meat products and others that are essential for the small consumer basket. "If we manage to join forces and rely on market mechanisms, we could achieve better effects," emphasized Bogdanov. He added that shops that sell non-food products can also be included in the initiative.

"As a supporter of the market economy and free competition, unlike previous attempts to charge retail chains to sell products below a certain price or have a ceiling on markups, this time the initiative is based on the principle of voluntary partnership and synchronization between the state and business", he pointed out.

Bogdanov indicated that the campaign is planned to start in November. "The idea is for retail chains to put up a kind of information board with the best price for consumers at which some of the products from a given commodity group can be offered. "Through the campaign, consumer awareness will also be achieved," said Bogdanov and added that the fixed prices on a weekly basis will also be submitted to NSI.

According to him, the campaign is not mandatory and no administrative restrictions will be imposed, on the contrary - it will be an open opportunity for competition and for raising the awareness of Bulgarian consumers.

The minister called on the commercial chains to work more closely with the manufacturers as well. He emphasized that the initiative should not come at the expense of producers or distributors at a lower level of the supply chain. For this reason, the department will offer those wishing to join the initiative to comply with the EC's Green paper mechanism for best practices between traders in the supply chain, where food products are mainly targeted.

In order to inform consumers more, the Ministry of Economy proposes that the product basket for the relevant week be included in the brochures of the chains, including in their digital editions.

Bogdanov announced that a specific basic mechanism will be proposed by the Ministry of Economy, which will serve as a basic framework that everyone who decides to join the initiative should comply with.