Freedom of business is our main guiding principle, and naturally it has its advantages when businesses fully determine their activities at their own discretion. However, there is also a social aspect here, which is very important. Together with you, we want to discuss how it is possible to achieve lower prices, Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze said at today’s meeting of the acting government coordination commission on food prices, which was attended by representatives of supermarket chains.

The head of government noted that it is a priority for the authorities that citizens feel the benefits the country gains as a result of economic growth.

“Freedom of business is our main starting point, and of course it has its advantages when businesses independently determine their activities. However, a social aspect comes into play here, which is of great importance. Free business and the freedom to operate help the economy and employment — this is important from every perspective. But 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 situation. In practice, there are cases where the price difference is double or even triple.

Together with you, we want to discuss what can be done in this direction and which practices can be changed in order to reduce prices. Overall, the average total markup, according to our calculations, is 86 percent. We believe that an 86% markup is quite high. Over five years, the number of supermarkets in the country has doubled. In Georgia, there are 113 supermarkets per 100,000 people, while in Germany the figure is 45, and in Austria 62. There are even lower figures. Naturally, this ultimately affects prices and places a burden on the population,” Irakli Kobakhidze said.

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

The meeting was attended by 15 representatives of major retail grocery supermarket chains.