“Price Watch”, the new platform for information and price transparency in the market

“Price Watch”, the new digital platform designed to bring greater transparency to the market and give citizens a clear overview of product prices, is expected to become operational soon.

As part of the preparations to launch the platform, Prime Minister Edi Rama, Minister of Economy and Innovation Delina Ibrahimaj, and Minister of Finance Petrit Malaj met with representatives of the country’s leading supermarkets and suppliers.

“Price Watch” is a new digital tool aimed at increasing transparency and access to information, enabling citizens to obtain a more direct overview of product prices on the market.

The meeting focused on how the platform will operate and on cooperation with the main market operators to create an accessible and useful mechanism for citizens.

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Prime Minister Edi Rama: I will pick up where the Minister left off. We are not the first to make an effort in this direction, and the experiences we have examined show that, in certain situations such as the one we are going through and for certain products, supermarkets have reached an understanding with the respective governments. To be fair, an initial meeting was held, about which the Minister briefed me, and everything appeared to be in line with the findings of our study. Then only one operator, who is present here today, responded; the others disappeared. Now, I believe you are aware that you are making more profit than is considered reasonable in a community such as ours, which is neither China nor America, and where this aggressive form of capitalism has begun to concern everyone.

What I want to say is that we should commit ourselves together, not in principle but in concrete terms: you should confirm the network of your points of sale that will participate in the initial pilot phase so that data transmission can begin; submit a list of products matching the categories covered in this phase, including the barcode, brand, weight, unit of measurement and all the other descriptions you are familiar with, so that products can be compared across all retail chains; publish a complete list of all stores and addresses so that anyone can see the price at each point of sale; ensure that the platform receives the actual final consumer price, including VAT, and clearly distinguishes the regular price from a promotional price, as well as the period for which the promotion applies; establish a common standard for how often prices are updated and how quickly any change is reflected on the platform; assume responsibility for accuracy, the correction of errors, the verification mechanism and so on; determine whether the platform will also indicate when a product is out of stock, so that the comparison is not merely formal but genuinely useful to citizens; and have each operator appoint an administrative and technical officer responsible for implementing this.

I believe the time has come for it to be very simple for citizens to view, compare and choose, rather than remain in the dark and simply deal with whatever comes their way. At the same time, there should be a transparent picture of competition, in which whoever is more agile and quicker to adopt competitive prices gains more. I would ask that we agree on these points. No one is telling you — and no one is claiming, because that would be absurd — that we will set prices. No one is telling you that you should not make a profit. These things are taken for granted; this is the system we have chosen. But we have now reached a point where we need to look one another in the eye.

Since one of you here has stood by what was discussed from beginning to end, I see no reason why the rest of you should not do the same. No one is asking you to stop making a profit; that is why you entered the market: to work and to earn. But we will not allow you to overburden people. I assure you of that; it will become a major problem. You will end up saying, “What have we brought upon ourselves? To hell with the money we are making unfairly.”

I am speaking very openly and very directly. I have no reason to make this personal with anyone. I do not believe we are asking for anything unfair. I do not believe we are asking you to make a sacrifice. We are not asking you to turn into charities. We are telling you: “Make a profit, but let others breathe.” It is unacceptable for prices here to be higher than everywhere else. What is even more alarming is that Bank of Albania figures tell us three things. First, the depreciation of the euro should have led to lower prices for products linked to the euro; second, imported inflation has fallen; and third, prices for domestically produced goods here have gone through the roof. That is what the Bank of Albania figures show. Of course, with the greatest respect, you face challenges of your own. Do not think I do not know what it means to wake up in the morning and think about paying salaries at the end of the month, because you have employees to pay and all manner of difficulties to deal with. Believe me, I may not know them as well as you do, but I understand them to a reasonable extent, and I have great respect for you.

In other words, I do not believe there has been — perhaps there will be in the future, but not to date — a prime minister more supportive of enterprise than I am. But everything has a limit, and we are talking about certain essential goods. We are not talking about deodorants or Wagyu beef; we are talking about essential items in the household basket, and about people who have to count every penny even to buy a single egg, for example. This is why I believe it is important for us to work together.

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Let me add one more thing. There may be matters you would like to raise with us regarding how this can be done better. There may be aspects of what we are proposing that you believe do not make sense. You are therefore welcome to offer your views on the method and the way forward, to point out anything you believe we should reconsider, and to advise us on how to improve what we intend to do. You know very well that we have reduced the burden of tax administration on businesses as much as possible. There are certainly still problems, but they are isolated. Overall, I believe that those among you with a long memory of doing business no longer face the concerns that used to be major problems. There are, of course, still things to improve. Suppliers certainly have observations to make about the entire chain of their operations and about where we fall short, function poorly or create obstacles. We are ready to listen and respond so as to make things easier, because that is our objective. We know very well that if things are not going well for you, nothing else can go well either. So, if there is anything in this approach that you believe should be corrected, please say so, either today or when we meet again. If there is anything that should be added, please tell us; we would be very grateful. But the objective itself is not open to negotiation. The objective is to relieve people of this burden of unacceptable profit margins. They are not unlawful — they are entirely lawful — but they are unacceptable.

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This is also a useful opportunity to go beyond the specific issue that brought us here. At least for now, while the Government is in the room, it appears that silence does not always mean agreement; it can also mean, “I have nothing to say now, but we will meet again.” In the meantime, I believe this gives us — above all the Minister and the staff of the Ministry of Economy, but also the heads of the Tax and Customs administrations — an opportunity to build a more structured channel of communication and hold dedicated discussions on concerns relating to customs or taxation. We are very willing to learn from you, and the Minister should create the conditions for discussions of this kind on other topics as well. Today, we came here to address this particular issue. If it can be resolved as easily as the young woman over there said, then thank goodness this meeting gave us the occasion; apparently, there is no problem here and all of you can hardly wait to lower prices. We are very pleased. If that happens, we will even give you medals. But after this, there are certainly other issues that concern you. Let us sit down and discuss them, decide what we will address, when and how, and give you greater ease in doing business. With fewer obstacles, you can do more business: greater ease, greater speed, greater volume. It is our duty.

For my part, I thank you, and I hope matters proceed as the young woman suggested. Thank you!