Everyone gave up something, some less, some more, commented one of the interviewees of Radio Free Europe (RSE) on the wave of price increases that happened in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) as well.
Statistics say that it really should be like that. Namely, the prices in May were higher by 14.4 percent compared to the same month last year, according to data from the Agency for Statistics of BiH.
In one year, transportation grew by more than 30 percent, food and soft drinks by almost 23 percent, and housing and utilities by about 11 percent.
One of the few items that has become cheaper is clothing and footwear, the price of which has dropped by five percent.
“I think this is a really big blow to the citizens, and what can we expect from this kind of government, nothing, which only looks at itself and has no understanding for us ordinary people,” toldJadranka.
“The fact that I have some income, a pension, can cover my food and utilities, I save money,” Kupusija said.
“I don’t buy what I don’t have to, I have bread, I pay my obligations, nobody forces me to do anything. These people will see where they will go, what they will do,” says Cvijic.
“Look at the kind of cars people drive, nobody does anything, they sit in bars, and all of them are young people, 20-25 years old. I was working in the sun at the age of 20,” emphasizes Jelenko.
In the largest city of Herzegovina, the locals say in conversation that everything that can be bought has become more expensive.
“Everything has become more expensive, there are no prices thathave remained the same as before. And fuel especially”, assesses Sanja Hrnjicic.
“Some things that are luxuries, that you don’t have to buy, we don’t buy,” says Sanja.
Her fellow citizen, Nedzad Asovic, adds that the current situation is “nothing new, and it will get worse.”
The locals of Doboj, in the north of BiH, in a conversation with a journalist, say – they don’t know where to start, because everything has become more expensive.
Ferida Beslagic told that she has no pension, and her husband has 80 BAM (40 euros) of pension. They have one child abroad, and she admits, “if there were no children, it wouldn’t be possible at all”.
“Once you could do some basic shopping for 100 BAM (50 euros), but now that’s no longer possible. My wife and stopped going out and have dinners out,” Maid emphasized, RSE writes.
