Despite the fact that the prices of food in the world were slightly reduced in the past month, this did not happen in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) and there are no announcements that it will become cheaper, because as traders say, “these are goods that were procured in the previous period when procurement prices were significantly higher,” said Murisa Maric, executive director of the Consumer Protection Association “DON” Prijedor.
As she mentioned, citizens’ fear of new price increases is justified “because so far no government in our country has adopted measures related to mitigating the crisis and the sudden increase in inflation”.
The forecasts are not encouraging, she adds, because sowing will again be significantly more expensive, and we are witnessing that a small part of food is produced in our country, while most of it is imported.
According to her, although there was a slight increase in pensions, that amount was already spent in advance on the increase in the price of economic services (heating, electricity, water supply, waste removal, etc.) so that citizens are left to manage as before.
When asked if consumer habits are changing due to daily price increases, if citizens buy less and turn to cheaper products, Maric answers that in our country, for a long time, quality has not been the priority, but citizens look at what is available and affordable for the amount of money they have.
”Can a family living on a pension or minimum wage think about quality or is it only important how to survive the month and not get into debt slavery with utility service providers or banks? Now you buy at discounts, you go to the store with a list, and only with those necessary items that are missing, and you follow the promotions and food discounts offered by the shopping centers every week,” emphasized Maric.
When it comes to comparing food prices in our country and in the region, the executive director of the Consumer Protection Association “DON” points out that statistics show that we are at the bottom of all rankings because food prices are more expensive than in countries in the region, and “especially when you take into taking into account that our lowest wages are in the range of 350 to 400 euros and that we can certainly afford only thirty percent of the consumer basket with that money”.
”The lowest salary in Croatia and Slovenia is around 800 euros, which is an indicator that in these two countries citizens can afford over 80 percent of the consumer basket,” concludes Maric.
