26 minutes agoRelaunch price hikes warned during July and August in Albania
Periskopi(4 years ago)
(4 years ago)A coffee, drink, or lunch at a restaurant is costing more and more, forcing many consumers to reduce their daily habit of drinking coffee, or to get out more frequently for lunch or dinner. According to INSTAT, the annual Consumer Prices Index, which measures price change compared to [...]
According to INSTAT, the annual Consumer Prices Index, measuring price change compared to the same period a year ago, reached 5.9% in June. This is the highest growth in 15 years, at least since 2007, when INSTAT reports the data.
The extension has started since the second half of 2021, but it accelerated to the first part of this year to peak in June.
Market actors warn that price hikes are expected to continue, influenced by increased costs and lack of labor force, which is forcing wage increases, while acknowledging that this situation is negatively affecting consumption.
The representative of the Association of Bars and Restaurants, Enri Jahaj, told “Monitor” that price hikes have been influenced by the financial inability of these facilities to cope with the expensive prices of supplies with food products and drinks.
“Bar and restaurant businesses are managing to adapt to the situation of rising costs from the expensive prices of raw materials. Many of them have been forced to cost prices because they cannot afford to raise costs. While the abusive tendency to reduce quantity is not noticed on the plates.
There is forecast to be steady price hikes, as the entire service sector is heading towards collapse. There are fewer clients in bars, cafes and restaurants. This year, there are also fewer tourists than last year. The situation is similar in European countries, not only in Albania. All of these are the effects of the price-growing crisis that started since the pandemic and followed up after the Ukraine-Russia” war, adds Mr. Yay!
The Association of Bars and Restaurants earlier claimed that changing prices would be temporary, as businesses will no longer be able to bear the cost of rising prices.
For 2021, bars and restaurants continued to have a negative year. According to data from the INSTAT business registry, 854 activities of food and drink services, down 5.2%, were closed in 2021. There are a total of 15.5 thousand bars in the country, up from 22 thousand in 2015, being the second most favoured activity in the country after minority business. /Monitor/
