'Slovakia' Party: Buying Basic Groceries 10% More Expensive Than in January

Bratislava, April 11 (TASR) - Purchasing the same basic groceries at the same retail chain store as the one presented by Agriculture Minister Richard Takac (Smer-SD) at the beginning of the year has risen from €70 to €77 in April, which is 10 percent higher, opposition MP Julius Jakab ('Slovakia'party, For the People and the Christian Union/KU) told a news conference on Friday, adding that food prices reflect the government's consolidation measures. "All the people of Slovakia, including voters of the currently governing coalition, clearly feel that food hasn't become cheaper at all, that everything is just constantly getting more and more expensive, and this is happening due to the draconian measures taken by the current government," stated Jakab. He sees the problem, for example, in the introduction of a tax on sweetened beverages, the tax on financial transactions and the increase in value-added tax (VAT) to 23 percent, even though the rate of this tax on basic foodstuffs has dropped from 10 percent to 5 percent. "We're paying the most for food among the countries in the region, and when it comes to inflation and growing food prices, we doing the worst among all European countries," added the MP. ko/df