EUROSTAT: Household appliances, dairy and clothing, the products we buy are more expensive than in Europe

2024-12-18 07:07:00, Ekonomi CNA

EUROSTAT: Household appliances, dairy and clothing, the products we buy are more

An Italian couple in a video on social networks compared the purchases that could be made with 100 euros in a supermarket in Albania and Italy. They were impressed that milk and sour cream were almost twice as expensive as in Italy, packaged meat, bacon almost three times more expensive and so on. The only cheap products, according to them, were fruits.

Their comments are in fact in line with the latest data from Eurostat, which has published the consumer price index, with reference to the average of the European Union (EU=100) for the main basket products for EU countries and Western Balkans (data for Kosovo are missing). The last updated data is from 2023.

Although they have the lowest income in Europe, there are many products that Albanian families are forced to buy more expensively than in other European countries.

Food and alcoholic beverages cost an average of 93% of the EU average, or only 7% cheaper than the EU, being among the most expensive in the region, along with Serbia. In North Macedonia, food costs as much as 73.3% of the EU and in Montenegro 84%.

Alcoholic beverages are the product that Albanians buy more expensively than Europe, with 44% more than the European average.

Household appliances are also expensive, costing 37% more than the European average.

Albania is an agricultural country, but milk and cheese are no longer so cheap. The decrease in the number of heads, the increase in costs and problems with the economy of scale, due to small farms, have caused Albanian families to buy these products 20% more expensive than the European average.

Other foods are 19% more expensive than in the EU.

Even buying shoes costs 16% more than in EU countries, while clothes are the same.

To buy a pair of shoes, which in Europe cost on average 100 euros, in Albania you need 116 euros.

Prices are expensive, but incomes remain low. The latest updated Eurostat data (this is the second update) shows that the country continued to be last in Europe, both for income per capita relative to the size of the economy and for income relative to purchasing power , with the latter being an indicator of the material well-being of families.

Per capita income in relation to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was 36% of the European Union average, the last in Europe (data for Kosovo are not reported). The other indicator, that of individual consumption per capita, which measures income according to purchasing power, or the well-being of a family, places Albania at the bottom, with 41% of the European average./ Monitor magazine