BRATISLAVA, March 5, (WEBNOVINY)- The Economy Ministry is in talks with the Regulatory Office for Network Industries on lower prices for electricity distribution. The ministry believes that it is a possibility to squeeze prices of foodstuffs ad other commodities, said Prime Minister Iveta Radicova in the Saturday Dialogues program on Slovak Radio. “When energies make up one third of the price and with electricity, 50 percent of the price is tariffs, fees for distribution, etc. then here is the space, which we can estimate for price reduction.,” she said. The state can press on the companies in which it has equity participation, she added.
Radicova said that in the era of Robert Fico electricity prices in Slovakia climbed among the most expensive in the EU. “But it was not so only because high costs of electricity generation but also because the regulatory office unbelievably increased fees in Slovakia for distribution,” she said adding that tariffs for operation of the system jumped 236 percent that time.
Moreover, the possibility to reduce VAT on foods as one of the measures to battle high food prices is still pending. However, the Cabinet wants to implement this possibility only if it fails to curb foodstuff prices through energies. Radicova underscored that in Poland and Germany, lower VAT on foods failed to squeeze their prices. “The global influence is stronger than the country’s internal measures,” she argued. Radicova said that of key importance for achieving the success in this is also to halt the mounting indebtedness.
SITA
