According to the latest data from Bosnia-Herzegovina’s Agency for Statistics, the average salary in 2019 was almost 925 BAM, which is almost 130 BAM higher than the average salary ten years ago.
Back in 2007, the consumer basket amounted to almost 1,290 BAM, which is almost 700 BAM cheaper than now. In the past year, it amounted to more than 2,000 BAM, Avaz news portal reports.
Marin Bago of the Consumer Association explains to Avaz that the average worker in our country today can buy less groceries for his family and pay less than he could in 2007.
Bago explained that we are facing rising of prices every day. Two average salaries cannot cover a consumer basket. That has to start changing. In Germany, a four-member family spends 30 percent of their wages a month on food costs, while in Bosnia-Herzegovina, one full wage goes to food, Bago said, adding that in Germany the average wage is almost four times higher than in BiH.
The Federal Ministry of Commerce has been publishing monthly reports on average food prices every month. So with a little effort it can be seen what and how much we pay more expensively.
In 2008, a kilogram of rice cost 1.28 BAM, while in December 2016 the average price was 3.20 BAM.
Data show that the most expensive were in Mostar and Sarajevo – 3.40 BAM.
The latest figures show that it was 3.31 BAM last year. A kilo of tangerines in November 2019 cost 4.70 BAM and in December 2016 4.60 BAM.
The average price of a pound of bread is now 2.5 BAM, and in 2008 you could buy it for 1.5 BAM. In 2016, a kilogram of coffee cost 13.30 BAM and in 2019 13.50 BAM.
The biggest problem is the fact that most workers from Bosnia-Herzegovina work for a much lower wage than the average, sometimes for much less than the cost of a four-person meal.
The Consumers Association points out that wage growth does not accompany price rises. In many families, only one member works, which is not enough for the cost of eating either.
It is therefore no surprise that, by standard, Bosnia and Herzegovina is at the very bottom of Europe.
