Accuracy: The government is in a hurry to lower the prices – It’s too early to celebrate, says the director of IELKA

As a measure in communication management, the government emerges, struggling to convince that the battle against punctuality is victorious with “good morning”. The “four new measures” that premiered on March 1 are a “crash test” for the economic staff that is desperately looking to change the agenda for the better with injections of optimism knowing full well the dissatisfaction that exists in a large part of the citizens for the tsunami of accuracy.

On Tuesday morning, the Prime Minister made a “surprise visit” to a supermarket on Lenorman Street, in order to find out what prices are on the shelves.

Kyriakos Mitsotakis, accompanied by the Minister of Development, Kostas Skrekas, said (again) that efforts to reduce prices continue, while he made a special reference to baby milk. “A product that had been of great concern to us and with the intervention we made, the gross profit margin is essentially regulated. We’re seeing reductions that are between 15 and 20%, reductions that are significant especially for new parents, as prices have really been out of whack lately,” he said.

“In almost 4,000 products in the supermarkets, after a drastic measure that we voted in the Parliament, the prices have started to decrease” declared the minister in charge, triumphing with market people and consumers to be cautious.

Jump to conclusions – No triumphalism

Five days from the start of the implementation of the measures and the market dynamically adjusting, the statements of the general manager of the Consumer Goods Retail Research Institute (IELKA), Lefteris Kiose, are of particular interest.

Knowing all the parameters well, Mr. Kioses, hastened to land us in the harsh reality.

It is too early to have the full effect that the measures will have on the final prices and overall on the consumer’s spending, he said (ERTNEWS) and added that the measures certainly do not concern retail prices so much.

He explained that one of the four measures mainly concerns wholesale prices, that is, the reduction of benefits that exist between commercial companies and industrial companies.

“This has definitely affected, it has been seen that there is a difference in the wholesale price lists, it has changed and there is a clear price reduction and this definitely affects the initial prices of the products as well. That is, there is a reduction in the initial prices of the products where there are products that are included in the categories”, he emphasized.

He noted that there will be a reduction in the final prices (…) but without triumphantly emphasized that “we have to wait to see what will be the final effect on the basket, it is too early to say yet, that is, we still cannot draw a clear conclusion ».

He expressed hope that the measures will have a positive effect but made it clear that we cannot know this before two or three months.

Changes will take time – Consumers are wary

Market experts who agree with the director of IELKA say that it will take a reasonable time for the changes to “run” and companies will take care to preserve their profit margins.

In the meantime, drawing data from Circana, it becomes apparent that the measure of the Ministry of Development to limit offers will cause turbulence in the market of beauty and personal hygiene products, as almost 1/3 of their turnover comes from promotional actions with the purchase of shampoos and conditioners (which make extensive use of 1+1 offers) to be tested.

Revealing is the MEGA report that identifies a reduction in offers in supermarkets that has been noticeable since the first days of the measure’s implementation. As a result, as consumers complain, some codes whose original price was reduced are even more expensive than before.

Several consumers seem hesitant about the new measures, since, they say, the final prices in many cases are not really reduced.

The measures are aimed at the opposition

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis once again gathers the arrows of the opposition for accuracy on the burning issue of accuracy after the “unannounced” visit to a supermarket.

The beginning was made by the president of the official opposition party, Stefanos Kasselakis, who called on Kyriakos Mitsotakis to… take off the “supermarket customer” uniform as it is “provocative to public sentiment”.

The president of SYRIZA – PS also emphasized that “the only controls that are carried out in the market are the “unannounced” – accompanied by 40 cameras – visits of the Prime Minister to supermarkets once a quarter, with which he always “fights against accuracy” and always he’s losing it.”

PASOK – KINAL, through the person in charge of KTE Development and Member of Parliament for Dodecanese Giorgos Nikitiadis, emphasized that the failure of yesterday’s performance by Mr. Skrekas in a supermarket accompanied by cameras, obviously did not yield the expected communication results, forcing the Prime Minister today to seek improvement of the recent communication show, in person.”

It is noted that in a recent MRB poll, the vast majority of citizens (69.9%) considered that the government has taken fewer measures than what the state of the Greek economy allows.