Food prices rise as people buy less

Citizens at this time of year are buying less food products and less are receiving needed services, compared to the same period last year.

This is because the cost of the family basket for September has increased by 1.4 percent, resulting in price hikes for food products and other nonfood services.

So say data from the harmonised consumer price index, which the Kosovo Statistics Agency itself is not using to calculate the cost of the family basket.

The Economic Statistics Department of this Agency has said they have not measured how much one family in Kosovo can cost monthly expenses.

We never had the average basket, and we never measured it as a department or the price sector. The data on the weights of products in the calculated Consumer Prices Index are from the results of the household economies' budget survey and national accounts for private consumption of domestic economies”, says in their response, Kosovo Presses.

But data published on the harmonised consumer price index say this increase in household cost is being done due to price hikes.

The overall harmonised consumption prices “is higher by 1.4% in September 2018, compared to September 2017. This is largely explained with the rise of consumer prices in this period in COICOP subgroups: bread and cereal (2.1%); meat (3.1%); milk, cheese and eggs (3.4%); vegetables (13.0%); tobacco (2.9%); use of personal transport equipment (10.6%) - Uplifting the price of oil and gasoline; hotel service (3.2%), with a combined effect of these subgroups 2.1 per cent in the IHK<1x>, the IHK data say.

And this data has been interpreted by GAP Institute researcher Nora Jusuf, who for Kosova Preress, says that consumer purchasing power in our country has diminished.

According to her, if a family for a week bought necessary things for 50 euros in the past year, at this time of year I'd buy those things at a price for 70 cents higher.

The purchasing campaign has been reduced by 1.4 percent, so consumers or families will be able to buy 1.4 percent less goods and services if their mutual wages or incomes per month stand the same and other factors remain the same. If a family says it's been supplied within a week with the necessary 50 euros in September 2017, this year in September it's costing 50 euros and 70 cents, which probably doesn't look like a large figure, but when we take into account larger numbers of burdens, it's larger”, she says.

According to Jusuf, rising inflation for 1.4 percent for a family that survives the average salary in Kosovo of 130 euros means covering only 20 percent of monthly expenditures.

The minimum wage in Kosovo is 130 euros, we will take the worst scenario, if only one member of the family wins this minimum wage then this family can cover only 20 percent of the expenses that have been averaged 7803 euros... this index is not very clear if we compare it to what is considered a price stability of up to 2 percent inflation is considered to be in order because it stimulates consumption, not money storage, and when there is consumption then there will be economic growth... when we have unemployment of 305 percent, this problem adds to Joseph.

Jusuf has recommended that Kosovo's budget not focus on social and pension schemes, but offer assistance to businesses in order to increase the number of employment in the private sector, how to stimulate foreign investors.

But in addition to that, at the Ministry of Labour and Social Management, they say soon they will start an analysis of family expenses in order to cover the basic needs of a welfare family.

Mentor Morina, task manager of the family policy director at MPMS, says they don't have an exact figure of how much a family basket costs for families who don't live on pension schemes.

According to him, the amount that is distributed to families in aid is not enough but that they are helped through various programs.

“We use the positioning method of a poem equal to 1.5 euros in this family case with a member gets a number of about 40 points, which means the minimum amount of households in social aid is 60 euros, and continues somewhere to the families that get 120 points that multiply for the value of 1.5 is 180 euros for the 15-member family. We know that this cost did not include the other costs needed for families such as electricity, sanitation and other expenses that a family needs, however. MPMS and Government through its programs subject these families.. 5H2 4 We don't have a minimum basket definition of how much a two-member, five-member family, including other articles, not just food articles”, he says.

But the cost and monthly expenses for Kosovo families, but turns out to be unaffordable when monthly revenues and high prices are known in the market.

The increase in food prices is facing Bislim Ademi's 17-member family.

He says that along with a difficult small income, he is managing to buy the basics for his family.

Very hard to deal with is that my personal income is very low, I have 150 euros in retirement, or we're about 17 members we don't work for, but we don't only have a very small income, now the food items, the municipal costs, the water dumps, these are barely working, I don't know where to go, the big fuck not only in me, but in general,”, he added.

Bekir Lahi, a father of four students, says he hardly covers family expenses without borrowing.

According to him, very little can afford to pay municipal expenses.

With the wages we have in Kosovo today, we are doing something, but only with difficulty. I work at the municipal stock company “Horticulture”, my monthly salary is 250 euros, now I don't want that much comment. I have four students. ... We're out of here. I might not borrow some of this, but I have to sacrifice it and save it to pay municipal taxes”, this citizen said.

Otherwise, the overall harmonised consumer price index for September of 2017 was 1.7 percent higher than 2016.