Have some companies taken advantage of inflation to increase their margins? This is no longer in doubt for many experts and analysts. Last: Benoît Coeuré, president of the Competition Authority.
In an interview in ParisianThe economist, a former member of the board of directors of the European Central Bank, claims to have “a series of very clear clues and more than clues, facts, which show that the persistence of inflation is partly due to the excessive profits of companies” . who take advantage of the current situation to keep prices high”.
Remember that “in normal times”, inflation comes in a third “from the behavior of companies” that “increase their prices above their costs” and in two thirds “from the behavior of employees who want salary increases.” However, “the ECB, this year, says that the opposite is happening.”
Recently published ECB analyst work has come to this conclusion. In February, the president of the Frankfurt institution, Christine Largarde, admitted that the increase in prices was fueled by excessive profits, and called for a “debate within society, the companies” about an “adequate distribution” of the ballast of inflation.
“We are attentive”
With the Parisian, Benoît Coeuré believes that “understanding where the excessive profits are” has become “a collective priority”. The Competition Authority “looks more specifically at certain sectors”, he assures, without citing them, although the branches of energy or agri-food are often highlighted.
In any case, he promises to be intractable in the face of abuses: “When we suspect an agreement, we investigate it. (…) But to companies that say ‘since prices rise everywhere, it will be less visible if we go ahead’, I tell them ‘careful, we are vigilant’. We are there, we are watching and we have the instruments to sanction, even if it is severe”.
For him, “identifying excess income in an economy is a way of looking for purchasing power.” And warn, remembering that the Competition Authority can “sanction companies that abuse either because they agree on prices, volumes, qualitative elements of their products or because they abuse their dominant position with practices that harm their customers or suppliers.”
Source: BFM TV
