Part of the markets of the commercial chains "Vero" and "Viva Fresh" are among those that were closed this weekend by the market inspection due to non-compliance with the government's Decision to reduce prices by 10 percent, Minister of Economy Kreshnik Bekteshi said, answering a journalist's question after visiting "Alma M" company. The minister said that the whole country knows who they are and he has no problem announcing them.

- There is no reason why their names should not be known and the citizens should know them. I am not afraid and I have no problem telling them not only now, but also in the future if they continue to disobey the measures. It is logical who they are. We have 8 to 10 large chains that have markets in almost every city in the country, cover most of the trade, make the largest turnover, and it is logical that the DPI did the first controls at them - Bekteshi pointed out.

He used the opportunity to reprimand the media, which, according to him, kept the names of the closed shopping chains silent, because "they were running advertisements".

The minister added that the media and the citizens themselves can make sure whether the government measures are effective and announced that every week they have a meeting of the government where, if necessary, they will decide whether there is a need to make changes in the existing measures in terms of deadlines, there will be no compromise and the citizens should be calm that the measures will be fully implemented.

On Tuesday, a decision will be made to reduce the prices of alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages, and an analysis is being made for hygiene products, announced Bekteshi, and the Law on Unfair Trade Practices will be submitted to the Government this week. The minister said that as far as he is informed, there has been no control by the Commission for the Protection of Competition. Regarding the complaints of the Chamber of Commerce that the companies had a short period to realign themselves according to the measures, Bekteshi responded that the decision was not made overnight, and the merchants had a deadline to make all the changes.

- We had meetings with everyone, a week before the measures were adopted. I have excellent cooperation with the Chamber, but their statements are contradictory. A week ago, President Azeski said in an interview that all inspections should proceed, so we fulfilled his wish - Bekteshi pointed out.
And Prime Minister Dimitar Kovacevski announced that some products have already reduced by more than 10 percent and appealed to traders to respect the measures.

He praised the promptness of the market inspectors and said that as long as he is the prime minister, they will not stop raising the standard of the citizens, listing all the wage increases that are underway or will happen.

 Peshev: It takes time to change the prices, the penalties are too severe

The closing of several markets is too strict a measure, because there was very little time between the adoption of government decisions and the reorganization of the traders' work, said Antoni Peshev, executive director of the Macedonian Chamber of Commerce. He responded that it was not easy to change the prices of 1.200 items not only in the cash registers, but on the shelves, so the omissions that the DPI found this weekend were not intentional and the penalties should not be draconian.

Peshev says that it is a bad image for a market to be closed and DPI must have a reasonable deadline for them to remove the irregularities. According to Peshev, he attended all the meetings in the Ministry of Economy with both traders and distributors, who agreed to reduce 5 percent of their margins in solidarity in order to meet the citizens, but like all other citizens, he understood from the media that the reference price from which the reductions will apply will be from August 1.

Previously, the DPI informed that five large commercial chains, in addition to receiving a label this weekend - non-observant of decisions and other legal regulations, were also fined 73 thousand euros and closed. The law allows the closure to last from 3 to 30 days.
- Let this be a warning for them to sort themselves out and I stand behind the fact that there will be no compromise - said Goran Trajkovski, director of the DPI. He revealed that the basis for the punishment was the fact that the traders put up a "guaranteed price" sign and the product was not discounted, or put up a sign for a product that was not covered by the government decision. The government's decision to reduce the prices of food products by at least 10 percent, as well as freezing the reduced prices, should last until the end of November.

 The distributors should fill the stores so that they are not penalized

On Saturday, more than 50 inspections were carried out and 5 large markets were closed and 7 were fined for disobeying the government's decision. It is not our goal to close all markets, but to seriously sort out their decisions, and if we determine again, we will close again. Five days are enough to sort things out - said Goran Trajkovski, director of the DPI. Regarding the supply, Trajkovski told the companies that the decision to fill the shelves of 70 percent compared to August applies to both traders and distributors and it must be respected.

- Controls are carried out at both retailers and wholesalers, which includes suppliers and all other companies - said Trajkovski.