FLASH
Shkruar nga Pamfleti
When the world was gripped by high inflation after the war in Ukraine, Albania had the lowest price growth in the region, but the Balkan Barometer 2023 from the Regional Cooperation Council (RCC) found that our country had the highest percentage of the population dissatisfied with prices.
According to the survey, 65% of the population of Albania was very dissatisfied with the high level of prices. The level of dissatisfaction was higher and with a difference from other countries, where 47% of the citizens of the region express dissatisfaction.
Albania had the lowest level of inflation last year at 6.7%, while the regional average inflation was 12% last year. (see the chart below).
After Albania, the most concerned about prices were the citizens of Montenegro, who were dissatisfied to the extent of 55%, but meanwhile inflation in Montenegro last year rose to double-digit levels of 13%.
In North Macedonia, 54% of citizens were very dissatisfied with the level of prices, as inflation last year increased by 14.2%, the highest regional level.
About 46% of Serbian citizens were dissatisfied with prices last year, as inflation in this country increased by 11.6%.
Earlier this year, international financial institutions discovered that the inflation indicator in Albania does not represent reality.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) in a study on the effects of inflation in the countries of the Western Balkans showed that the region is currently facing the highest levels of price growth since the fall of monist regimes in 1990.
Data from the 6 countries of the Western Balkans (Serbia, Albania, Bosnia, North Macedonia, Montenegro and Kosovo) show that the increase in prices has been stronger for the group of food products, making the increase in prices more severe in a Region where poverty is still at high levels.
While inflation as a whole showed a low level of only 6.7 percent in relation to the Region, food prices increased at a double-digit rate in the country by an average of 12 percent.
Serbia has the highest share of food expenditure in Europe, with 42% of the total budget, compared to the European average of 13%.
Even in relation to the region, Slovenia has the highest weight of expenditure on food. For North Macedonia, the indicator is about 31%, for Bosnia and Herzegovina 29.5%, for Serbia about 24%, for Montenegro 24.6%, according to Eurostat (year 2019). Data for Kosovo is missing from Eurostat, but the share is lower than 40%, according to national statistics.
But in Albania, the high share of food in consumer spending corresponds to a lower level of income. Albania continues to have salaries almost 30% lower than the regional average according to official data, making concerns about prices more acute in our country.
The main category of basket foods, such as cereals, vegetable oils suffered an immediate blow from changes in international markets, increasing by 9.4% in the Balkans, in the EU they increased by only 3.2%, while in Albania, over 20%.
Secondly, the structural problems of agriculture in the region cause price disturbances coming from the internal markets. But also the prices from the international markets are driven to higher levels than the real changes./Monitor
Lini një Përgjigje