Food prices could fall by 12 percent in Romania, following the government’s decision to reduce the VAT charged on it to 9 percent. The move is apparently in reaction to complaints about food prices received by the Chamber of Deputies Agriculture Committee. Hearings were convened with supermarket representatives to clarify why prices have increased in recent months.
“By reducing VAT on food, according to our analysis, shelf prices should decrease by…12.1 percent. It is completely erroneous information that our chain stores increased price before VAT decrease,” said Florin Căpăţână, a representative of Carrefour Romania.
Representatives of Cora, Auchan and Kaufland said that they had not increased prices recently and that they had no plans to do so, adding that a reduction of VAT would lead to lower food prices.
