It is necessary to introduce targeted compensation measures for low-income strata of society, President Zuzana Caputova concurred in a discussion with economic experts Viliam Palenik, Jan Pokrivcak and Ivan Miklos on Thursday. The discussion revolved around food security and growing food prices. The head of state underlined that the world is shifting from one crisis to the next. The corollaries of the pandemic and the ongoing Russian aggression against Ukraine have had and will continue to have adverse effects on inflation and the growing prices of some commodities, particularly fuels, energy and foodstuffs. "Slovakia is part of the single European market and hence any concerns concerning food shortages are misguided. What's imperative, however, is to introduce measures to help the most endangered groups of people weather the effects of rising prices," she stated.
The economists appeal for the preservation of the good functioning of the EU internal market, higher levels of transparency and checks into disproportionate upticks in profit margins. On the other hand, they caution against the introduction of across-the-board regulations and cuts to indirect taxes.
"An important take-away from our discussion is that the high growth in prices of some products on global markets is caused by stock exchange fluctuations due to uncertainty of the markets in the wake of the tense geopolitical situation and not their real or potential shortages in the future," said the President.
Source: TASR
