With the new year came new prices. A significant increase in the price of electricity in the RS has been announced, which will cause a chain wave of price increases. Is BiH facing another economic shock or is stabilization waiting for us – is a question that is asked almost every day.
We are entering another year in which we received bigger bills for New Year’s gifts. It’s not Santa Claus, it’s the government. BH citizens stepped into the year 2025 with increasingly thin pockets and difficult questions. New challenges – old problems. From food to utilities, everything seems to be getting more expensive except the standard of living.
“Cigarettes, alcohol and coffee go up in price, but milk, sugar, flour, bread go. I think that we have the most expensive bread in the region. Just too much.”
“Everywhere is a disaster!”
“We live how we live. As ordinary citizens, we experience a kind of chaos. We need to get rid of this government.”
“I think the voice of the people needs to be heard a little bit. There is a small number of people who have, a large number of those who do not. They silence some individuals, the people are silent and I cannot say – I am the same people – that we are fools, but we are fools. It’s terrible!”
In BiH, which is, according to economists, “a big importer of everything,” high prices on the markets of European countries directly affect us. In addition, the domestic agricultural sector is increasingly weak, and the countries from which we import products are facing their own crises, which further increases costs. Economic analysts do not have good forecasts.
“We can expect high price levels and lower rates projected by the competent institutions, when applied to the high bases we had in the previous period, this will mean high prices on the domestic market and falling living standards,” warns economic analyst Milenko Stanić.
But it is not just inflation that is pushing prices up. Traders will, as before, use market freedoms to pass on additional costs to citizens through margins.
“Compare the prices of some food products products, and in all these campaigns no one mentioned household products – detergents, soaps… how much they have increased. We ignore that, but we look at what the price of a loaf of bread, flour, and ham will be,” notes Jovan Vasilić, president of the Zvono Consumer Association from Bijeljina.
Citizens, as is often the case, are preparing for the new year with the hope that things will get better. But it seems that it will not bring relief, but only a further challenge to the already exhausted budget. The economy may be It is recovering on paper, but citizens’ pockets certainly won’t feel it.
