ATHENS – Greece’s feeble Competition Commission, trying to rein in high prices but hampered by not having enough staff, is nonetheless looking at possible cartels among multinationals and investigating bank deposit interest rates.

The agency has only half the budgeted 230 workers as it’s trying to deal with soaring prices in supermarkets and accused by institutions, consumers, businesses, parliamentarians and politicians of inefficiency, said Kathimerini.

The independent authority doesn’t announce its targets but the business newspaper Naftemporiki noted that this time it announced probes of the banks as well as cereal prices that have jumped.

https://www.naftemporiki.gr/english/1723202/cereals-and-banks-under-the-microscope-of-the-competition-commission/

“The controls will not be limited to the specific sectors. The practices of multinationals are always a priority, however the Commission’s audit powers concern almost the entire market,” the paper said, citing unnamed sources.

The banking industry is under the scrutiny of the Competition Commission for the second time in recent years, the first an audit about fees for withdrawing cash from ATMs when using cards from other banks.

This time, the Commission’s investigation into the banking sector concerns the level of interest rates on deposits, which are fixed at almost zero compared to lending rates, the report said, giving the banks bigger profits.

Despite criticism the authority is ineffectual, the report noted that it has led to putting a cap on the price of baby formula and limiting promotions and offers to product categories dominated by multinationals, such as detergents, personal care and hygiene products and household cleaners.

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis sent a letter to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen asking for intervention in the pricing practices of multinationals largely blamed for continuing high prices for foods and products.