Government decided to intervene on the market with 40,000 tons of mercantile wheat at the price of Denar 15.5. As Ministers in charge of economic affairs said today, the decision was brought to the end of mitigate the effects from recent bread price hikes. Quantities will be available to be purchased by companies when the concerned decision is published in the “Official Gazette” and after the Commodity Reserves Agency announces the auction.

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The quantities, as they pointed, would be sufficient for the market not to face possible shortage of wheat in the future and to provide stability of bread price.

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– By monitoring the market and trends on the global stock markets, it is obvious that wheat price has doubled compared to 2010. Government concluded that additional intervention is needed, so we are intervening with quite large quantities of 40.000 tons of wheat, thus meeting large portion of the needs. We have reduced the price, i.e. we have provided subsidized price of only Denar 15.5, in conditions when price on the market is Denar 20-22 per kilogram, Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, Zoran Stavreski said, adding that the Government also monitored the developments and is undertaking new measures corresponding to the market trends and the potential of the country, as well as the quantity of commodity reserves that can be used to intervene.

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He said that commodity reserves were limited and the Government has to take account of their total quantity.
Such decision and such quantities of wheat will mostly contribute to overcoming the problem of maintaining the price, in particular of bread and meeting the demand on the wheat market, Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Economy, Ljupco Dimovski said, adding that the Government put its efforts to help the most vulnerable groups of citizens in the country, since it was a matter of essential food product.

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Vice Prime Minister in charge of Economic Issues, Vladimir Pesevski, underlined that the measure was neither short-term nor long-term one, it was rather aimed at enduring the period up to the next harvest.

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– Stability should be ensured by the time of the next harvest. Fluctuations are also possible, since no one can go against the prices on the global market, however, as regards the price picks, the Government may help regulate them, Pesevski said, adding the both the quantities and the price are used to make alleviating impact, and the desired effects will be achieved.

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Minister of Economy, Fatmir Besimi, pointed out that this was not the only measure. Decision was reached in January on duty-free import of 80,000 tons of wheat from the Member-States of the World Trade Organization and, so far, the companies imported 10,000 tons.

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As whether new measures are envisaged, such as SOS markets or increase of social welfare, Deputy Minister of Labour and Social Policy, Spiro Ristovski, said that the issue of SOS markets, which opened in 2008 and operated for a certain period of time, would be discussed again, and should a need arise, they would re-activate, together with the companies, the SOS Markets Project.

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He also added, for the time being, no increase of pecuniary social welfare was envisaged.

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As regards the level of inflation, Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, Zoran Stavreski, said that there was no danger of its significant increase and the Government would do everything to keep the inflation level within the projected three percentages.

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– In the first months of this year, on the basis of the developments as regards process of essential food products on the global stock markets and oil prices trends, due to the developments on the Middle East, new challenges pertaining to the total price index are obvious.

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It is too early to make new projections. We believe total aggregate demand, on the basis of disciplined fiscal policy and monetary policy, would remain under control, i.e. there is no danger of significant increase of the general price, i.e. inflation level. Of course, this does not mean that individual prices of essential products, determined by the trends on the stock market, will not move upwards or downwards. It does not depend on the Republic of Macedonia, it rather depends on the trends on the global stock markets. Total general price level will remain under control and we will put efforts for such level to be kept within the projected level of three percentages, Stavreski said. (MIA)

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