Skopje, 20 June 2024 (MIA) - In accordance with the Law on Unfair Commercial Practices, the Ministry of Economy adopted on Thursday a list of products that should further reduce inflation, especially for basic food products, says Minister of Economy Kreshnik Bekteshi.

"On the proposal of the Economy Ministry, 25 decisions were adopted to limit the prices of basic food products, limit the trade margin of certain products, and abolish customs duties on certain food products, in order to protect the living standard of citizens from the price crisis. As a result of the measures, we reduced inflation in one year from 19.5 percent in November 2022 to 3.1 percent at the end of last year. To that end, the Law on Unfair Commercial Practices was enacted for the first time in the country. The new contracts for suppliers and manufacturing retailers, after adopting the list, should further reduce the food inflation below 2 percent in the coming months," says Bekteshi at his final press conference in the post.

Dozens of laws, hundreds of bylaws, rulebooks and thousands of decisions have taken and adopted in order to improve the country's business climate over the last seven years.

"With the help of the legislative amendments in the energy sector, we implemented key reforms for the country's energy stability, while the legislative amendments to support investments opened the path to bigger growth and development of the economy. With the help of detailed reforms and measures during the last seven years, but also recently for the health, energy, price, and economic crisis, we fought to maintain every job position and ensure better living conditions for all citizens," Bekteshi noted.

A new investment cycle was started in the renewable energy sector which resulted in significant growth and construction of power plants for the production of electricity from renewable energy sources, which has allowed for significant growth and construction of power plants for the production of electricity through renewable energy sources, especially in the photovoltaic sector, which capacity of 20 MW in 2017 has now increased to 600 MW, and licenses have already been issued for photovoltaics with a capacity for 1,311 MW. This contributed to the renewables' share in total electricity generation reaching 33 percent as opposed to 2017 when it was below 20 percent.

"In seven years, the energy efficiency program gave subsidies to over 10,000 households to replace PVC or aluminum windows,solar collectors, and photovoltaic plants in households. During this time, we allocated over Mden 400 million (EUR 6,5 million), which significantly contributed in making households more energy efficient, and increased the usage of renewable energy sources in households. Also, we allocated around Mden 120 million (EUR 2 million) in subsidies for reducing electricity prices for vulnerable categories over the course of 2022 and 2023," the Minister stressed.

A total of 919 foreign and domestic companies were given EUR 100 million in state support though the Law on Financial Support of Investments, which years invested over EUR 500 million over the past six years.

"Support for tourism drastically increased, especially with the help of the network of vouchers supporting domestic tourism and its capacities. Since the initial implementation of this network in 2018, the Economy Ministry has distributed a total of Mden 770 million (EUR 12,5 million) and over 120,000 vouchers for tourism to low-wage workers," Bekteshi highlighted.

The amendments to the Law on Mineral Resources ensured the safety and health of citizens, as did the adoption of 144 decisions for unilateral termination of contracts for exploitation and concessions, including the issuance of 123 permits for exploitation of mineral resources.

"Through the program supporting entrepreneurship and innovation of small and medium-sized enterprises, we awarded Mden 202 million (EUR 3,3 million) in financial support, as well as 1,923 companies through programs for supporting female entrepreneurship, certification, projects and program activities of foundations, associations, craft chambers, business angel networks. We realized measures worth Mden 61.3 million (EUR 1 million) through the program for supporting the processing industry and corporate social responsibility, as well as 190 companies, clusters and associations for training employees, smart specialization, accreditation of laboratory and implementing new standards," Bekteshi said and added that over 50 shops in the Skopje Old Bazaar received a total financial support of Mden 4 million (EUR 65,000) to unify their windows. ssh/ik/

Photo: MIA