Inflation in Greece eased from 3.1% in January, ELSTAT data showed on Friday.
INFLATION
The European Central Bank is set to keep interest rates at record highs on Thursday and take baby steps towards cutting them in the coming months as inflation continues to fall despite stubbornly high underlying price pressures.
Average price reductions of 15% in certain product categories, due to the government’s measures, have been recorded since March 1, Development Minister Kostas Skrekas told Skai TV on Wednesday.
The Lenten Basket – with lower prices of goods consumed during the period of Lent – will be available from Wednesday, March 13 until May 4, according to the ministerial decision signed on Tuesday by Development Minister Kostas Skrekas.
Apartment prices in Greece rose by 13.4% in 2023, compared to an 11.9% rise in 2022, according to data by Bank of Greece published on Tuesday.
The Development Ministry is seeking to assign the role of “Big Brother” for 15,000 product codes to the e-katanalotis market monitoring platform.
Greek frozen foods producer Ainos was fined €742,000 for breaching the law against profiteering, Development Minister Kostas Skrekas said on Monday. Of the 72 company products, 50 were found to have been sold at a higher profit margin than what the law allows in checks that took place between July 1 and September 30, 2023. […]
Since Friday, infant formula has been between 5% and 16% cheaper than it was up until Thursday, while a series of other commodities also saw their retail prices drop as a result of the ceiling imposed on gross profit margins by the Development Ministry.
Speaking on the government’s decision to reduce inflated prices on certain supermarket goods on Friday, Development Minister Kostas Skrekas said that the measure will be permanent and that it tackles a decades-long malaise.
“From Friday onward, when the package of measures we have taken to deal with soaring prices will be implemented in its entirety, we will see prices that are up to 15% lower in important product categories. Categories such as household cleaning products, personal hygiene products, baby diapers, but also a series of consumer goods that are essential in the life of households,” Development Minister Kostas Skrekas said on Tuesday, on public boradcaster ERT1.
Greece saw the second-highest increase in the price of olive oil since January 2023, with its 67 percent increase far above the European Union average of 50 percent, data from the EU’s statistics arm showed on Tuesday.
The new measures to combat high prices are expected to lead to double-digit reductions in the prices of certain categories of products on supermarket shelves in March, the general director of the Supermarkets’ Association of Greece, Apostolos Petalas, said on Sunday.
The distribution of family budgets has been forced to revert to how it was some 30 years ago, due to inflation on the one hand and the internal devaluation of the previous decade on the other, excessively raising the percentage of food and housing expenses in total household spending.
Discussions are underway this Sunday for the new minimum wage increase, effective April 1, 2024.
Government spokesperson Pavlos Marinakis told Mega TV on Saturday that the measures designed to lower the price of infant formula will begin to be applied in March.
Cyprus’ Harmonized Index of Consumer Prices accelerated slightly to 2.1% year-on-year in January, up from December’s annual reading of 1.9%, the Cyprus Statistical Service said on Thursday. The HICP in January amounted to 112.67 units from 114.09 the month before recording a monthly drop of 1.2%.
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