Mass boycott of stores across Croatia, a significant drop in turnover recorded

(Patria) - Due to the continuous rise in food prices, Croatian citizens are massively boycotting shopping in stores, retail chains, and gas stations today.

The Tax Administration of the Republic of Croatia announced that today by 11 AM, compared to last Friday, there were 40 percent fewer retail receipts, and their amount was lower by as much as 47 percent.

According to data until 4 PM, turnover fell by 29 percent compared to last Friday, while the amount of receipts was also lower – by 31 percent.

The initiative for the boycott was launched by the Facebook group "Halo, inspektore" (Hello, Inspector), supported by the European Center of Excellence for Consumer Affairs (ECIP). In the meantime, it has been supported by consumer protection associations, trade unions, political parties, and even some ministers.

- Today's boycott of stores is an important and articulated message from citizens that will be taken into account. It is an important and articulated message from citizens that they monitor and compare prices and believe that some of these prices are unacceptable compared to similar or identical products abroad, where in this age of technological progress they can easily compare prices with those in other countries themselves.

The message from citizens is important and it will be taken into account when defining measures for administrative price caps on certain products, which the Government will adopt next week - said Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković at the beginning of the Government session.

The Government, according to him, has protected citizens' standards from high prices with a series of measures, some of which include lowering certain VAT rates, capping prices of products from the consumer basket, and subsidizing energy prices.

For next week, the Prime Minister announced the publication of an updated list of products with capped prices.

Finance Minister Marko Primorac said that the Government has been combating inflationary pressures with various measures and appealed to all market participants, from producers to retailers, to act responsibly.

- Our appeal was for everyone in that business-production process to see what can be done to make prices, especially for food products, as low as possible.

As for the boycott, I don't think it's up to the Government to organize or call for a boycott, but as a citizen, as a consumer, I fully understand it, and as far as I'm concerned, I won't go to the store today - said Primorac, reports HRT.

And while trade unions, consumer associations, and even some politicians, both ruling and opposition, are calling on citizens not to buy anything, retailers and entrepreneurs are protesting, and many have announced significant discounts just for today.

The Association of Entrepreneurs "Glas poduzetnika" (Voice of Entrepreneurs) accused the state of leaving the fight against inflation to citizens and entrepreneurs.