Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said on Friday that the government would adopt a new set of aid measures for households, including pensioner households, in September.

“The government has been working on a new set of measures, we will present it in September, and it will target those most in need,” Plenkovic said, adding that pensioners are the group the government has been helping the most.

Asked by reporters during a visit to Sopje municipality, where he attended events marking Virovitica-Podravina County Day, if, given the growing inflation, the government was considering taxing retail margins, Plenkovic said that the government would analyse the situation and talk to business people, and that all options were on the table.

“Revenue from extra profit tax last year was so large that currently we still have enough money to redistribute to those most in need, like pensioners. Considering the circumstances, all options are on the table,” he said.

Asked about the repercussions of inflationary pressures, Plenkovic said that they could not undermine social cohesion and that it had been preserved.

The situation at the EU level was much worse in 2022 than this year, and in Croatia there were almost no protests in 2022, while this year “there was an occasional orchestrated protest” of lower intensity, but those problems were solved as well, said Plenkovic.

Asked if he believed that inflation will slow down, Plenkovic said he believed it would happen at the end of the tourist season.

The national statistical office on Thursday published its preliminary estimate of inflation in August, which shows that consumer prices in August 2023 were 7.8% higher than in August 2022 and up from 7.3% in July 2023, with food prices having increased the most.

Asked if he believed there existed a retail cartel in light of the price rise, Plenkovic said that it was up to the Market Competition Agency to determine that.