The social situation of many people in Slovakia is quite grave, President Zuzana Caputova declared after a so-called roundtable organised on Thursday. The main topic discussed revolved around the adverse impacts of rising inflation and price hikes on low income groups.
Attending the roundtable talks were Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Samuel Vlcan and representatives of the largest retail chains, Slovak Modern Retail Alliance, Slovak Retail Association, Food Bank of Slovakia, Slovakia Red Cross and Slovak Catholic Charity.
"The fulcrum of the talks was again poverty and rising prices. In Slovakia we have more than 660,000 people [out of population of 5.5 million- ed.note] who face poverty. These are mostly young people or children, single parents and lone elderly. It's an enormous group of people who need real aid, mostly in the context of increasing prices," said Caputova. Also discussed was food aid. "The thing we have to prevent is the waste of food. On the other hand, we must make sure that food surpluses, particularly from the retail chains, must find their way most efficiently to the people in dire need of them," stated the head of state. Vlcan confirmed that a bill to facilitate the delivery of surplus foods from the retail chains to charities is already in Parliament.
Source: TASR
