North Macedonia scraps power subsidies for bakeries, food producers

The Government of North Macedonia has decided to abolish electricity subsidies for producers of bread and other staple foods, citing their failure to reduce prices. At the same time, the government is capping the prices of the cheapest types of bread until the end of May.

Late last year, North Macedonia started subsidizing electricity bills of staple food producers and bakeries, bringing the price they paid down to EUR 80 per MWh.

The measure, aimed at protecting the living standards of the population, applied to about 200 companies in the food industry and 600 bakeries, Minister of Economy Kreshnik Bekteshi said at the time.

Food and bread prices have not gone down enough despite state aid

Despite the generous subsidies, these companies have either failed to reduce prices of their products or lowered them by just 7% to 12%, according to authorities.

The regular price of electricity in January and February was just below EUR 150 per MWh

The producers have enjoyed the preferential price of EUR 80 per MWh since December. In January, the regular price of electricity was EUR 148.69 and in February, EUR 145.99 per MWh, Bekteshi said at a press conference.