Monthly expenses give citizens a headache every day, and shopping in markets is the most common. While some complain about the rise in prices, others believe that they have stagnated recently.
We can hope for a drop in prices, but only in September, when the Government will again limit the margins for traders, according to Prime Minister Milojko Spajić's announcements. And when it comes to the relationship between wages and prices, Spajić claims that June had the lowest inflation rate since October 2021.
On the other hand, the president of the country, Jakov Milatović, says that in the first half of the year inflation in our country was twice as high as in the Eurozone. An economic analyst sees these statements as a numbers game.
"Inflation cannot be lower inflation here, if prices are significantly higher than in some EU countries. It is their political struggle, the president is right in my opinion," he says analyst Oleg Filipovic.
At the end of May, the margin limitation action, which applied to 500 items, expired. This temporary measure now covers only flour, oil, salt and sugar.
"When we go to the store, our somewhat subjective feeling is that prices are rising drastically, because you can no longer buy a bag of groceries for 50 euros. We notice that with some goods, we see that the prices have increased significantly compared to a year or two ago," says the journalist of the economic column in ND Vijesti Goran Kapor.
Monstat data show that consumer prices in the first six months of this year are 4,8 percent higher compared to the same period in 2023. The average salary in this period increased by less than 50 euros. We can't talk about falling inflation, says Kapor, and explains why.
"Now the annual growth rates of inflation are slightly lower than they were earlier, but this does not mean that there has been a drop in inflation, but rather that prices are growing at slightly lower rates than they were growing a year or two ago. The total sum of inflation indicates that in the past two and in a year and a half, the price of food increased by 40 percent," explains Kapor.
The story that wages have grown more than inflation and that the standard has improved is unfounded, according to SD MP Boris Mugoša.
From the Europe Now Movement, Boris Pejović claims that the opposition disputes the Europe Now 2 program because it has neither a program nor results. And while fights on the political scene continue every day, a long-term solution to the issue of price policy is not in sight.
Kapor concludes that greater competition on the market could also have an effect on reducing prices.
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