The average salary of citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina cannot cover even the minimum living costs of a family of four. Basic foodstuffs, clothes, utilities, hygiene products, are just a part of the needs for which our citizens spend more and more money, while salaries and pensions do not grow minimally, Avaz news portal reports.
Cost of living
According to the latest data from the Agency for Statistics of BiH, the average salary in BiH is 947 BAM, and during 2019 it amounted to 925 BAM, which is about 130 BAM more than a few years ago. In May this year, the consumer basket amounted to almost 2,000 marks.
Thirteen years ago, for example, a consumer basket was about 700 BAM cheaper than it is today. Namely, it amounted to almost 1,290 BAM.
Marin Bago from the Consumers’ Association said that the problem is that average wages are growing only in statistics, because workers and their families continue to live the same or worse, because the cost of living is drastically increasing.
“For many years, the average salary is not able to cover the consumer basket, so not even two average salaries can cover the average basket. We must also take into account that the average salary in the public sector is higher, and in real terms it is even lower,” Bago pointed out, adding that the salary is increased by 20 BAM, and the consumer salary is immediately up to 200 BAM.
The trade union consumer basket calculated by the Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Bosnia and Herzegovina for the month of May 2020 amounts to 1,996.53 BAM and is 8.81 BAM more expensive than the consumer basket for the previous month.
The average salary paid in the Federation of BiH for the month of March 2020 amounted to 947.00 BAM (the last data published by the Federal Bureau of Statistics) and is 13 BAM higher than the average salary paid in February 2020. The coverage of the Trade Union Consumer Basket wianthe average salary is 47.43 percent.
When making the Trade Union Consumer Basket, the average salary paid in the Federation of BiH was taken into account, as well as the minimum living costs of a family of four consisting of two adults and two children, one of whom one is in high school and the other in primary school.
The consumer basket itself consists of the following categories: Food (48.3 percent), housing and utilities (17.6 percent), hygiene and health maintenance (9.6 percent), education and culture (2.5 percent), clothing and footwear (10.0 percent), transportation (6.0 percent) and household maintenance (5.8 percent).
In the food category, prices from three shopping centers for 87 items were used. When it comes to hygiene and health maintenance, the costs for twelve items are included, and for housing and communal services the costs for six items.
