"I bought coffee for 239 dinars, two weeks later it cost 369": Tabakovic on unacceptable prices

Photo: Sava Radovanovic/Tanjug

NBS Governor Jorgovanka Tabakovic has said that certain retail chains are using the temporary growth of inflation to unjustifiably and artificially raise prices, and told them that they must be aware that this could come back to them like a boomerang.

Recommended

Replying to journalists at the NBS, where the November inflation report was presented, Tabakovic said that on October 31 she bought 200 grams of "Strong" coffee for 239 dinars, and showed the bill, adding that after only two weeks that the same coffee cost 369 dinars.

Such a price increase is inadmissible, Tabakovic stressed.

She said that she then analyzed the price of that product in retail chains using their websites and determined that they range from 234 to as much as 374 dinars.

"They are using the psychological moment and are not aware that the current benefit produces much greater damage. Those who are scheming now are trying to create a spiral of inflation," said Tabakovic.

She stressed that some vendors view this situation regarding inflation selfishly and do not understand that it could become "a boomerang that will come back to them through unjustifiably increased prices of raw materials" as well as that they may lose customers.

The governor said that the NBS is not neglecting the influence of the psychological angle, but that it neither underestimates nor overestimates it, considering that people who deal with inflation at the central bank have the experience with hyperinflation that happened in our country in the 1990s.

She recalled that the state also reacted by limiting the price of bread.

Tabakovic said that almost all countries around the world are afraid of inflation, since it is higher in many than in previous decades.

"There is that fear in all countries, but it is important not to panic," said the NBS governor and added that the central bank of Serbia would do everything to prevent high inflation in our country.

(Telegraf Biznis)