Boss of Spar Hungary Complains About Her Customers Shopping Abroad
- 21 Feb 2024 6:42 AM
- Hungary Around the Clock
Hungary’s 27% VAT rate is undermining the competitiveness of Spar, in part by encouraging cross-border shopping, president Gabriella Heiszler of the subsidiary of the Dutch retail chain told Pénzcentrum in an interview.
“Hungarians living along the borders are happy to go to the shops abroad, which overall causes a noticeable loss in many product categories and, unfortunately, the high VAT also favours retailers who deal in the grey zone,” she argued.
“We see that households reacted relatively quickly to inflation. Consumption fell, so we could not pass on price increases. As a result, the sale of own-brand, cheaper category products has greatly increased,” said Heiszler.
Despite the geopolitical tensions, she said, the supply of basic food items in Hungary is secure, but pricing is another matter.
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