"We are barely living"/ The increase in prices makes life difficult for citizens in Kosovo

2023-12-19 19:31:00, Ekonomi CNA

"We are barely living"/ The increase in prices makes life difficult

Illustrative photo

The price of food products has continued to increase every day in Kosovo. This has influenced citizens to complain that they cannot make it. A few days ago, the government decided to allocate 100 euros for children and pensioners.

The continuous increase in the prices of food products has made life difficult for the citizens of Kosovo.

Many of them complain that with the salaries they receive, they find it difficult to cover the most basic needs of life.

Bread is often missing from their tables.

"Compared to life, as wages and pensions are low, prices are very high, this is also trending, they are already increasing. Life has become very expensive", said Agroni, a citizen from Pristina.

Meanwhile, Idriz Ahmeti, a citizen from Fushë Kosova, says that he is unable to cope with the increase in prices.

"The prices have increased a lot, too much. They pretend they have plenty, they pretend they have plenty, but what do I need to continue with me".

Meanwhile, Dritoni says now they are even worse, since according to him the prices have already increased.

"Now we are even worse, because the prices have increased a lot."

The representative of the organization "Consumatori" Selatin Kaçaniku, says that in the market of Kosovo there is a constant tendency for manipulation of prices by traders.

"I wouldn't point out that we have price increases only during the holidays, we have skilled trades that have enabled us to have holidays all 365 days, so-called promotions, so-called White Fridays, black, various. From all government legislatures, we have received answers that the market is the price regulator... until this table continues, I will always say that unfortunately we do not have a free market, we do not have a local market, we do not have a regulator so-called market, so we don't have a market that is a price regulator... we are to blame for the problems with prices, because we don't allow the creation of a regulator that is called a market"

The President of the Chamber of Commerce of Kosovo, Lulzim Rafuna, has shown that the increase in prices in the market is a consequence of the high price of imported goods.

"In some cases, our importers are dependent on the goods they are buying abroad, or the raw material or half the product, where inflation has taken its toll, they buy it at a higher price, so they will have to sell it more expensive, but we don't have any complaints about an unreasonable increase".

Food products become more expensive again, the basket of Kosovo's citizens gets heavier.

According to the statistics agency of Kosovo, compared to November last year, prices have increased by 2.9%.

"This is mainly explained by the increase in consumer prices in this period for: trees (19.4%), vegetables (16.1%), goods and services for the usual maintenance of the household economy (10.8%), sugar , jam, honey, chocolate and sweets (7.7%), food products (7.0%), alcoholic beverages, tobacco (5.9%), bread and cereals (3.5%), and meat (1, 2%)".

A few days ago, the Government of Kosovo decided to allocate 100 euro allowances to all children. So much money for pensioners.

Children and pensioners will each receive an additional 100 euros at the end of this year, announced Prime Minister Albin Kurti at the Government meeting.

"I believe you remember the promise that every year each child will receive 50, 100 or 150 euros, depending on the parents' income. This year we have decided that all children without distinction will benefit from the scheme and the amount of the benefit will be 100 euros".

The Government of Kosovo allocates 100 euros for children and pensioners for the end of the year.

While in Kosovo the prices were constantly rising, in some European countries there was a decrease in prices. According to the official data of Germany, in this country in November the prices have decreased by 3.6%.

The predictions of the European Central Bank are that the rate of inflation in the countries of the Western Balkans will be 3 percent in 2024.

The former governor of the Central Bank of Kosovo, Fehmi Mehmeti, predicts that Kosovo will end the year 2023 with an average inflation rate of 5.4 percent.

In January of this year, while he was in charge of the CBK, Mehemti predicted a drop in inflation up to 6 percent in the second half of 2023.

"The expectations are that in the next year [2024] the annual inflation, approximately, will be around 3.6 percent. Only in 2025 we expect to have an inflation of 2 percent".

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According to him, electricity is one of the products that has become more expensive and the effect, then, has been a chain.

"We are all family members and we know what we bought with 100 euros before the pandemic... now we need much more money to fill the consumer basket. We have higher inflation in basic products".

It should be remembered that prices, last year, were mainly driven by global energy prices. Various analyzes say they will fall – not as much as they did before the Russian invasion of Ukraine – but that any decline in energy prices will take time to be felt in the wider economy.

According to the Statistics Agency of Kosovo, unemployment in the country is less than 12 percent. The data published by KAS at the end of September showed that the largest part of the family budget in Kosovo was allocated to the purchase of food items. According to KAS, families in Kosovo spent about 300 percent more money on food than on housing./ Monitor magazine