"As we could see today, the shelves in the markets are marked with lower prices that are part of the New Year's basket. For some of the products, the reduction is more than 10%. I am also pleased to say that the number of products included in the New Year's basket is continuously growing and has reached 1098, and the number of markets and distributors involved in this action is also growing. The number of markets has reached 42, and 95 manufacturers and distributors have delivered discounted products in the New Year's basket. The list is not closed, we expect more products to be added to this list, all with the aim of all of us jointly meeting the needs of the citizens," said Minister of Economy and Labor Besar Durmishi during today's tour of some of the markets that are included in the "New Year's Basket" campaign, together with Deputy Minister of Economy and Labor Marjan Risteski and Director of the State Market Inspectorate Vlatko Stojkoski.
"I am pleased that in a short time we managed to implement this action, which we expect to yield greater results than the autumn basket. The autumn basket included 73 product groups, and now there are 1098 products, we expect the effect of the New Year basket to be greater," emphasized Durmishi.
The Market Inspectorate is on the ground and checks whether the action is being respected as proposed by the producers, distributors and traders themselves.
"In these five days, the State Market Inspectorate has registered minor remarks in terms of labeling and minor price corrections at two or three trading entities. No irregularities on a larger scale have been observed. I can conclude that all stakeholders in this process respect the agreement. The monitoring conducted by the SMI before the start of the action showed that the agreement is being seriously respected and traders are demonstrating social responsibility in action. Also, according to the Consumer Protection Law, as the Market Inspectorate, we have the right and we control the lowest price in the last 30 days, that is, the lowest price is reduced by at least 10 percent. We control that, we are up to date and we do not have any drastic differences," said Director Stojkoski.
The "New Year's Basket" campaign is at the suggestion of companies and the increase in social responsibility.
The citizens can report irregularities to the State Market Inspectorate at the toll-free number 191 or on the website www.dpi.gov.mk if they notice that the products from the New Year's basket are not reduced and marked on the shelves of the markets.