Minister Malaj Highlights Importance of Margin Analysis for Fiscal Policies to Ease Consumer Costs

As part of the “Price Dashboard” effort, Minister of Finance Petrit Malaj attended a meeting with leaders of the nation’s supermarkets and significant suppliers. The meeting was also attended by Minister of Economy and Innovation Delina Ibrahimaj and Prime Minister Edi Rama.
Minister Malaj stressed in his speech the significance of examining margins at every stage of the price-formation process, from import or manufacture to the end user. In order to lessen the burden on consumers, he claims that this analysis will help the Ministry of Finance better understand price structures and pinpoint areas where fiscal reforms might be implemented.
The minister stated, “We want to know what margins are applied throughout the price-formation chain, whether from the point of production to the final consumer or from import to the final consumer.”
Malaj emphasized that the procedure would also assist in determining the industries that contribute to price formation and determining if the applicable margins are appropriate or excessive.
The minister also discussed how budget revenues are affected by the euro’s decline. He claims that the drop in the value of imports caused the state budget to show a shortfall of about €50 million in just the first seven months.
At the very least, cheaper prices were anticipated as a result of this amount. In addition to the fact that this hasn’t occurred, analyzes conducted by the Ministry of Economy reveal that average costs for basic items and the basket of goods are higher,” Malaj said.
The minister emphasized that the analysis should be carried out cooperatively and voluntarily, urging market participants to cooperate. He stated that the appropriate organizations would conduct inspections at businesses to see how prices are set if there was no collaboration.
Minister Malaj said, “We will analyze and assess all margins so that we can determine what fiscal policies we need to undertake to ease the burden of higher prices on consumers as much as possible.”