Layoffs and resignations, millions of losses, closing of shops, late payments, borrowing from banks. All these are indirect consequences of Vučić's trade margins, which were presented to the relevant minister by traders of smaller domestic chains at a meeting closed to the public, "Vreme" learns.
"Vreme" was the first to discover that in Serbia followed by a wave of massive store closures of large retail chains, who said they could not withstand the government's regulation on limiting margins. Dozens have already been closed, and a new wave of lockdowns is yet to come.
The burden of this regulation has also hit domestic retail chains, which are otherwise having a hard time doing business and do not have branches and hinterlands in other countries, so they too will have to close, some permanently, and share layoffs.
Those smaller retail chains clearly told Minister of Trade Jagoda Lazarevic at a meeting in the Chamber of Commerce that they are doing business very hard. after the regulation that was pompously passed by Aleksandar Vučić, limiting the margins to hundreds of products. Vučić called it - miraculous measures.
One after another, domestic retail chains appeared, which operate locally and are not part of large foreign conglomerates.
"For three hours, they explained to the minister the catastrophic effects of the decree: millions of losses, shop closures, late payments, borrowing from banks, layoffs," says a "Vremena" source. "Domestic traders said that they have survived sanctions and war, bombing and corona, but that this regulation is pushing them into bankruptcy."
However, when Jagoda Lazarevic spoke for the pro-government agency about this meeting, nothing was heard. She told Tanjug that traders were actually only presented with a specific platform where they could see product prices.
"It is something that is very useful, and it will be especially so when the database is publicly available and will be able to be used by all our citizens," said Lazarevic.
Speaking about the Regulation on Limiting Trade Margins, Lazarevic only mentioned that its implementation has entered its third month, and that new trade chains are subject to market inspection control.
"The minister released a statement to the media that a portal with prices was presented at the meeting, which did happen and lasted 20 minutes at the end of the meeting," explains our source.
Lazarevic timidly let slip that the ministry appealed to traders for a dialogue with suppliers, because a number of them are willing to lower prices, so that it would eventually reflect that we have even greater reductions than the ones we have.
Deleuze closes the double-digit Maxi due to margin constraints
Actually, it is about the part of the meeting in which the traders explained to the minister that this regulation favors the suppliers, because they got a reduction in the cost at the expense of the traders. It was very embarrassing when the minister started justifying herself that she is not a mercenary of any company, that she does not protect big capital and tycoons, that she expected suppliers to lower prices, which they did not do, adds the editorial source.
"Vreme" sent questions to the Ministry of Trade, about what was discussed at the meeting with traders in the Chamber of Commerce, how long it lasted in total and how much was proportionally discussed about the portal with prices, and how much about the problem with the Regulation. However, the answers did not arrive until the conclusion of this text.
Domestic retailers are only the tip of the iceberg of the collapse in stores.
In the midst of all the chaos, there is also the resignation of Lazar Marković, general manager of the IDEA chain of stores. IDEA company confirmed this information for "Vreme".
"Lazar Marković made the decision to continue his career outside the company. He made this decision for private reasons," they answered.
The company did not clarify whether the decision had anything to do with the Government's regulation on margins.
"European supermarket chains complain about harassment in Serbia" - under that title the German economic daily Handelsblat writes about the limitation of margins in Serbia and asks the question: "Can the EU tolerate this kind of behavior?"
"Management mistakes or strong competition are not responsible for the collapse, but the political will of Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić," the newspaper writes.
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