Background information

Recently, the prices of food in general and some elementary ingredients, in particular, have surged to unprecedented levels. In 2022, food and non-alcoholic drinks prices rose by more than 10% compared to 2021.

Some elementary food ingredients got even more expensive: cooking oil (40%), butter (20%), milk (18.3%), all types of meat (20% on average), flour and cereal products (22.1%), and bread (10.8%). Therefore, the government decided to mitigate the effects of rising costs by two measures: a review of retail food prices at six retailers to combat excessive trade margins and a higher food allowance for employees.

Content of measure

The Ministry of Agriculture hired a subcontractor to review and compare prices of a maximum of 75 food products on sale by six Slovenian retailers. From 1 September 2022 to 31 March 2023, the subcontractor must keep online records of prices, origin and quality of food products available to the public. The aim is to assure the transparency of retail prices for consumers, check the excessive increases of trade margins by retailers and control the quality of products. The reviewer should update data every 14 days. Food products included in the review are flour, bread, pasta, various types of meat, milk and dairy products, eggs, cooking oil, sugar, apples, potato, and sugar.

By another measure, the government raised the value of untaxed food allowance (for which employers do not pay taxes): from €6.12 to €7.96 a day. The decree came into force on 1 September 2022.

Use of measure

No information are available.

Target groups

Workers	Businesses	Citizens
Employees in standard employment	Does not apply to businesses	Applies to all citizens

Actors and funding

Actors	Funding
National government	Employer National funds

Social partners

Social partners' role in designing the measure and form of involvement:

	Trade unions	Employers' organisations
Role	No involvement	No involvement
Form	Not applicable	Not applicable

Social partners' role in the implementation, monitoring and assessment phase:

• No involvement
• Main level of involvement: N/A

Involvement

No involvement.

Views and reactions

The social partners did not react or publicly comment on this measure.

Sources

• 30 August 2022: Decree on the tax treatment of reimbursement of costs and other income from employment (Uredba o davčni obravnavi povračil stroškov in drugih dohodkov iz delovnega razmerja (www.pisrs.si)