At the invitation of the organization Alternativa Crna Gora (ACG), a two-day boycott of retail chains in Montenegro began, marking the second such call due to high prices in stores.
“We saw a lot of empty stores at the start of the day, but we cannot yet speak about the effects or compare this boycott to the first one last Friday. If the Tax Administration publishes the sales data on Monday, we will be able to assess how successful this boycott was, as that is a valid parameter,” said ACG representative Nikola Bezmarević for Pobjeda.
However, he is unsure whether citizens will have enough patience to continue the boycott.
“I don’t even know how long this can go on, considering our mentality. We expect everything to change in one day. I don’t know how long people will be patient with this, but it seems to me that they are already losing patience and struggling to get out of their comfort zone,” said Bezmarević.
He announced that if the boycott continues next week, the call could target a specific retail chain. He acknowledged that this is a radical measure and that it could lead to job losses, which they do not want to see.
“We will carefully consider this possibility. We see that the citizens want this,” Bezmarević added.
He claims that supermarkets are now using promotions and discounts to undermine the boycott, sending a hidden message that they will not lower prices.
“My proposal is for the government to urgently send initiatives to reduce margins and VAT on certain food products. If they don’t get involved, we could keep doing this indefinitely. I believe the government is the one that needs to act,” Bezmarević stated, adding that the boycott is a forced solution, as citizens are in a situation where they have to address high prices themselves.
According to the Tax Administration’s data, the first boycott last Friday resulted in the government collecting 233,200 euros less in VAT compared to the previous week. The five largest retail chains reported 55 percent less VAT compared to the previous Friday. These retail chains reported 190,349.45 euros in VAT on January 31, while the amount on January 24 was 423,603.06 euros.
The Tax Administration noted that the data relates to VAT collected on sales to final consumers in the five largest retail chains.
The Tax Administration previously indicated that during the first boycott on January 31, the sales of the five retail chains dropped by 55.6 percent compared to the previous week.
The highest response to the ACG’s initiative during the first boycott was in the northern region, where sales dropped by 61.4 percent. In the central region, sales decreased by 57.89 percent, and in the southern region, they fell by 52.2 percent. On January 31, sales in these five chains amounted to 1.22 million euros, compared to 2.79 million euros on January 24. On that day, 130,000 receipts were issued, which is 102,000 fewer than on January 24.
Prime Minister Milojko Spajić, in an interview with TVCG, announced the formation of commodity and stabilization reserves that will help small traders be more competitive with larger retailers. Spajić also announced a 20 percent reduction in contracts by the end of the year. He expects around 1.4 billion euros in VAT revenue, three times more than in 2020.
Spajić also commented on the boycott of retail chains.
“The state has limited margins on a large number of products. We encountered many ways in which traders were adjusting prices, and I personally supported the boycott. Citizens are right, but we don’t live in a communist system where the state could intervene directly. We reacted in the best way we could. We can still work on commodity and stabilization reserves. The first version of the commodity reserves will be available at the government meeting in early April,” Spajić announced. He believes that with the stabilization reserves, a long-term solution could be reached.
