- Title: CROATIA: Croats in shopping boycott over price hike
- Date: 11th February 2008
- Summary: BREAD ON SHELF/ CASHIER STANDING IN SHOP (SOUNDBITE) (Croatian) CASHIER, MIRJANA TOPIC, SAYING: "No, I think that sales will go as usual. The boycott will turn out badly because this is not usual here."
- Embargoed: 26th February 2008 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Croatia
- Country: Croatia
- Topics: Domestic Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA5CCO3VFBV1ZXBRRZIF7HYM1ZN
- Story Text: Croats have been urged to cut shopping for a week to protest against recent price hikes.
Local consumer protection groups have urged Croats to limit their shopping to bare necessities for one week, starting Friday (February 8) in the first nationwide protest at recent price hikes.
"We call on consumers on behalf of the association of consumer protection groups and the Croatian consumer protection group who are the organisers to withhold shopping; to boycott shopping from the 8th until 15th of February," head of Croatia's largest local consumer protection association, Vesna Brcic-Stipcevic said.
The boycott follows severe hikes in food prices which, together with energy and utility prices, threaten to nibble away at already meagre living standards in the European Union candidate country.
On Friday it was too early to predict the outcome of the boycott, but Brcic-Stipcevic said organisers hope to see a considerable drop in sales in local shops during the week. The retail sector is pivotal for Croatia's service-driven economy and personal consumption is largely financed by bank loans.
According to a poll published in the Vecernji List daily, 75 percent of Croatians are in favour of the boycott.
"I think they mostly will; most of all retired people and people from the middle class. But those at the top, they might not. I will for sure and so will all of my friends," said unemployed Zagreb resident, Ljubica Baric.
A retired woman Reuters met in a grocery store said she was already conducting a personal boycott.
"I boycott a little every day, because my pension is so small that it is necessary. It is also a way to boycott when you do not have anything to buy with," Marija said.
A cashier, Mirjana Topic said she thought the boycott would fail.
"No, I think that sales will go as usual. The boycott will turn out badly because this is not unusual here," Topic said.
Average annual inflation, which reached a decade-high in January, is expected to be around six percent this year, compared to 2.9 percent in 2007.
The government made a deal last month with producers and food retail chains, some of which are foreign-owned, to cut prices of basic products, like milk, bread and sunflower oil.
Some analysts said the move went against real market economy, while the consumer protection groups said that was not enough.
Brcic-Stipcevic said food prices rose 7.8 percent on average in December and January, but some products, like butter, are 50 percent more expensive, adding that transport and utility prices in the capital Zagreb were up by between 17 and 49 percent. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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