Government ‘reluctant’ to introduce price controls for food

The Irish Times has reported that the Government would be “reluctant” to introduce price controls for groceries.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said Ireland and other countries around the world did not have a “good experience” with such controls.

The Taoiseach was speaking during Leaders’ Questions in the Dáil last Wednesday, where Labour TD Ged Nash called on Mr Varadkar to request the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) to examine the feasibility of price controls for basic goods.

Mr Nash said the Central Statistics Office consumer price index for March confirmed that prices grew by 7.7 per cent in that month, the Irish Times reported.

It’s not just Ireland that’s suffering from inflation in the grocery sector. Inflation in the euro zone still has “a lot of momentum,” though it is moderating, according to European Central Bank (ECB) chief economist Philip Lane.