Romanian shops no longer give fiscal receipts to make food cheaper

Food sales have declined by 10% this month, following the VAT increase from 19% to 24%, according to producers, who expect the sales decline to become even steeper, of 15-20%. "In fact these are undeclared sales for which no VAT is paid, which means we are heading towards an 80% tax evasion. I don't think the 0.1 RON price increase for bread has dissuaded people from buying bread, I think they prefer to get it cheaper, from a store supplied by the black market," said Aurel Popescu, president of the bread industry employers' association Rompan at the Mediafax Talks about Romanian Agriculture seminar.
Big retailers in turn are unhappy about the black market being encouraged this year.
"The grey market has risen this year. Consumers say they go more often to food markets and to small convenience stores, but these increases are not reflected in official statistics because they fall in the tax evasion category," said Filip Cristescu, operational manager of Billa Romania, the biggest supermarket chain on the Romanian market and vice-president of the Association of Big Retail Chains in Romania.
Increasingly more convenience stores have started to get their supplies from the black market and no longer issue fiscal receipts to customers, says Sorin Minea, president of Romalimenta.