Consumer Basket in BiH has risen by 537 BAM in Ten Years

In ten years, the consumer basket in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) has risen in price by 537 convertible marks. Namely, the trade union consumer basket, which the Federation of Independent Trade Unions of BiH calculated for March this year, amounts to 2,106 BAM, and according to available data, the value of the consumer basket in 2011 was 1,569 BAM.

As can be assumed, the huge increase in the cost of living in BiH was not accompanied by the amounts in the current accounts of its citizens.

Namely, for those 10 years, the average salary has increased, the analysis shows, by only 162 marks. In February this year, according to the BiH Agency for Statistics, salaries averaged 961 BAM, and in the same month in 2011 they earned 799 BAM.

Commenting on these figures, the analysts point out that they reflect how bad the standard is in BiH. Marin Bago, president of the Consumers’ Association “Futura” from Mostar, estimates that the increasingly difficult life of BiH citizens is a consequence of all those things that, as he says, our political structures and institutions have failed to do. “Although it is forbidden to make extra profits in our country, I do not know that anyone in BiH has been punished for that, and there are grounds,” Bago warned in a statement for “Nezavisne novine“. He notices that the consumer basket started to be talked about a bit more actively this year, ie a month and a half ago, and to make the trouble bigger, in that period this basket in Mostar, as he points out, became more expensive by about 100 KM. “What is going on? Our families can no longer borrow, but we give up many things, for ourselves, but also for the children. The child does not get what he needs. In addition, it should be borne in mind that we eat mostly poorly, in the most unhealthy way. There is a profession that says how much we need to bring in, and we give it up. When you have an ideal situation, ie that two people work and have average salaries, even that cannot cover the monthly expenses “, said Bago. Selvedin Šatorović, President of the Federation of Independent Trade Unions of BiH, believes that the figures on the growth of consumer basket prices and disproportionate wage growth are an indicator that the authorities at all levels in BiH have absolutely neglected the interests of workers and their citizens. “It is a devastating fact that it is harder for us to live today than it was ten years ago. It is also devastating that they are trying to convince us that our standard is good, having in mind that as many as 60 percent of workers work for a salary below 600 KM “, said Šatorović for” Nezavisne novine “, Capital writes.