The latest government aid package for households and the business sector is a result of broad consultations with all important social and business stakeholders, its basic goal being to maintain affordable energy prices and protect against inflation, Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said on Thursday.

This is the fifth set of measures designed to protect households and the business sector against rising prices, Plenkovic said at a government session, noting that as usual, the government had consulted with the key partners – union federations, employers and their associations and chambers, pensioners, retailers and bankers.

The main purpose of the measures is to keep the prices of energy, primarily electricity, low because the current gas price is in force until the end of March 2024, he said.

The price of electricity for households, the business sector and public institutions will remain the same.

“The main message is economic security, stability and predictability for households and the business sector,” Plenkovic said.

The aid package also contains one-off bonuses for the most vulnerable groups of citizens, and it also envisages the administrative limiting of prices for certain products.

The PM said that retailers were willing to contribute to the government’s efforts to curb inflation and to lower the prices of a certain number of products.

“They will start doing so in the next few days, many will restore their prices to the level they were at at the end of 2022,” said Plenkovic.

Also, banks will raise interest rates on household savings deposits but that will not cause an increase in interest rates on housing loans and cash credits.