“Business freedom is the main starting point for us, and naturally it has its advantages when businesses fully determine their activities according to their own free judgment. However, there is also a social aspect, which is very important. Together with you, we want to discuss how we can manage to reduce prices,” said Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze at today’s meeting of the government’s coordination commission on food prices, attended by representatives of chain retail markets. The information was released by the Government Administration’s press service.

According to the press service, the Prime Minister emphasized that it is a priority for the government that the benefits the country gains from economic growth are reflected in the lives of citizens.

“Business freedom is our main guiding principle, and of course it has its advantages when businesses freely determine their operations. This helps the economy and employment and is important in every respect. However, in this case, such a heavy social burden is placed on the population that we decided, based on consultations, to try to introduce certain changes to the overall picture. In reality, there are cases where the difference in prices is double or even triple. Together with you, we want to discuss what can be done in this direction and how certain practices can be changed in order to reduce prices.

Overall, according to our calculations, the cumulative average markup amounts to 86 percent. We believe that an 86% markup is quite high. Over the past five years, the number of markets in the country has doubled. In Georgia, there are 113 markets per 100,000 people, while in Germany the same figure is 45, and in Austria 62. There are even lower figures elsewhere. Naturally, this ultimately affects prices and places a burden on the population,” Kobakhidze said.

The Prime Minister also noted that meetings in a similar format will be held with distributors and local producers. In addition, the commission will work on issues related to the prices of medicines and fuel.

Around 15 representatives of major retail grocery chain markets attended the meeting.