Stores in Croatia fined for unfairly raising prices after the switch to the euro
Merchants in Croatia have been accused of profiting from the currency confusion by unfairly raising prices since the country switched to the euro.
On January 1, Croatia became the 20th country to join the Eurozone.
Some experts say that stores are rounding up prices expressed in euros or suddenly increasing prices by up to 50 percent, instead of just converting their prices according to a certain exchange rate of 7.53 kuna for 1 euro.
While retailers say prices have largely been unaffected by the switch and blame inflation, the government has openly sided with the public and announced measures to combat price gouging, including sending inspectors to shops and service providers, as well as requiring large retailers to report the prices of each one product on a bi-weekly basis.
The state inspectorate announced on Friday, January 20, that after checking about 1,000 stores in the previous two weeks, it had discovered unjustified price increases in about a quarter of the establishments, issuing more than 240 fines.
Croatia entered the eurozone
At the same time, the latest data show that Croatia’s inflation rate was 13.1 percent in December, slightly slowing down from the record level of 13.5 percent recorded the month before.
Prices of almost everything have risen for most of 2022, with rising energy costs and supply chain disruptions caused by the war in Ukraine blamed for inflation.
‘When I look only at the most basic necessities, like butter, bread, milk, the prices are now unbearable. It’s not the increase they warned us about, it’s 10 or 20 percent,’ said pensioner Damar Arbanas.
‘Everything has grown drastically. Despite everything we were told earlier, it is incredible. I saw some comparisons with Slovenia and how it went in other eurozone countries, but that was obviously all nonsense.’