Representatives of the governing coalition met on Wednesday at Victoria Governmental Palace for a session during which several topics are to be discussed, including the issue of capping commercial mark-ups on basic food products.

During the meeting, the Social Democrats are expected to present a report outlining arguments in favour of continuing the cap on commercial margins for essential food items, political sources told AGERPRES.

The PSD argues that removing the price cap would lead to inflation rising to between 13% and 15% in the coming months.

„This is a measure that has enabled the reduction or freezing of prices for basic foodstuffs and has helped protect the purchasing power of disadvantaged populations with low incomes. (…) Given the weight of expenditure on capped food items in the overall consumer basket considered by the National Institute of Statistics (INS) in calculating the inflation rate, it is estimated that: a 15% average increase in the price of capped basic foods would push inflation up by 3.9 percentage points, bringing it to 13.8%; a 20% average increase would raise inflation by 5.2 points, resulting in an inflation rate of 15.1%,” the PSD document presented to the coalition reads.

Amid the explosive rise in prices (with energy costs increasing by a dramatic 66%) and austerity measures affecting incomes (through cuts or freezes), removing the cap on basic food prices would result in a drop in the purchasing power of low-income Romanians (who have a high proportion of food and energy in their consumption basket) by up to 30%, the document further notes.

The Social Democrats also warn that this sharp decline would push over one million Romanians into the risk of poverty and social exclusion in 2026 and would severely exacerbate social tensions and political instability.

Another topic on the coalition’s agenda is the reform of local administration, a draft currently being finalised by a dedicated working group.

AGERPRES