While one group on social media is calling for a boycott of large supermarkets, others have announced a boycott from today until Friday.
The older ones, who don’t even follow social media, didn’t know about the boycott until, judging by the situation on the ground, it can be said that citizens are visiting supermarkets less. The authorities are silent, economists don’t see the point, and retailers are still rubbing their hands contentedly. The question is, for how long?
Today is the first day of the announced four-day boycott of large supermarkets within retail chains in Bosnia and Herzegovina. From what we could see on the spot in Banja Luka, there was no major response to the boycott, but we will have the real picture when the Tax Administration of Republika Srpska announces the turnover for these days.
The four-day boycott of retail chains called STOP is a new attempt to force large retailers to lower product prices. In Banja Luka, the situation is the same as any other day.
It was assumed that there would be more citizens at the Mostar market and fewer in shopping malls. However, the picture says otherwise.
According to data from the tax administrations of both entities, the previous boycott significantly reduced turnover through fiscal registers, but prices did not fall.
The response of the authorities in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina was only a continuation of the action of locked prices for 65 products, and in the Republika Srpska not even that, except for increased control margins.
The question arises whether the citizens’ approach to the boycott is wrong, in contrast to the well-organized one in neighboring Croatia.
The trade union consumer basket calculated by the Confederation of Autonomous Trade Unions of Bosnia and Herzegovina (SSSBiH) for January 2025 amounts to 3,149.80 BAM.
The SSSBiH reminds that the average salary paid in the Federation of BiH for November 2024 was 1,401 BAM, which is the latest data published by the Federal Institute of Statistics, while the minimum salary according to the Decision of the Government of the Federation of BiH is 1,000 BAM.
The coverage of the Trade Union Consumer Basket by the average salary is 44.48 percent, and by the minimum salary 31.75 percent.
When creating the Trade Union Consumer Basket, the average salary paid in the Federation of BiH was taken into account, as well as the minimum living expenses of a four-member family consisting of two adults and two children, one of whom is in high school and the other in elementary school.
The consumer basket itself consists of: food 44.49 percent, housing and communal services 13.94 percent, hygiene and health maintenance 9.25 percent, education and culture 10.16 percent, clothing and footwear 11.43 percent, transportation 4.38 percent, and household maintenance 6.35 percent.
