Skopje, 15 April 2026 (MIA) - Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski said Wednesday analyses have shown that retail prices have risen by around 0.4 percent. The PM noted that profit margins have decreased, while bread prices have not gone up but rather gone down. According to talks with the millers, he added, bread prices are expected to stay the same or drop.  

"We analyzed four retail chains and the prices of 55 products. Based on the comparison we made between February 1 and April 1 prices, we came to the conclusion that prices have risen by approximately 0.4 percent, when comparing the April 1 prices with the February 1 prices. This analysis gave us some indicators for certain products, where prices have increased by several percent, i.e. by a double-digit number, or to be more precise, that means over 10 percent. In terms of profit margins, I can say that they have decreased on April 1 compared to February 1," said Mickoski.  

He added that while average profit margins were a little over 15 percent on February 1, according to their calculations, they have now decreased to below 15 percent, whereas according to the distributors and the markets, the figure was different.

"They are now below 15. I believe they are somewhere around 14.7 percent. That is according to our mathematics. We are currently considering how to get lower prices for a certain group of products, where we see a double-digit percentage increase and we will soon come out with such a position. Yet, to be fair, there are also product prices that are lower. We compared four markets. I would not go into detail about the prices for those markets now, but those markets include "Zur", "Kiper", "Kam" and "Vero"," Mickoski said, pointing out that the analysis thorough.

According to the PM, a double-digit price increase has been observed in vegetables, tomatoes, cucumbers, eggs, etc. 

In response to a reporter's question, Mickoski said we shouldn't anticipate a major price surge, as rising transport costs won't necessarily lead to huge inflation next month because the impact of these costs on the final product price is relatively small compared to the increase in diesel and gasoline margins. "We are talking about one to two percent," said Mickoski who attended the commissioning of new Macedonian Post Office vehicle fleet on Wednesday.