The government’s policy of reducing the VAT rate, in some cases to zero, on various everyday products, has been “very successful”, according to the Consumer protection service’s director Constantinos Karagiorgis.
Speaking in a radio interview on Thursday in light of the government’s latest decision to add coffee and sugar to the zero-VAT list, he said the service’s research has shown that three quarters of products with reduced or zeroed VAT rates have not seen their retail prices increase since the start of the scheme.
Additionally, he called on the government to restore the fuel subsidy, which was removed on July 1.
Coffee and sugar are set to be added to the list of VAT-free products on October 1.
