site.btaFour-member Household Needs 2,248 Leva per Month for "Normal" Living - Trade Union

Four-member Household Needs 2,248 Leva per Month for "Normal" Living - Trade Union

Sofia, July 28 (BTA) - A four-member household (two adults and
two children) needed 2,248 leva per month as at the end of June
for a normal way of life, according to calculations of the
Institute for Social and Trade Union Research of the
Confederation of Independent Trade Unions (CITUB) made on the
basis of a survey of consumer prices and cost of living in June
2015.

The results of the survey were presented Tuesday by CITUB
President Plamen Dimitrov and scholars from the Institute.

The per capital cost of living reached 561.90 leva. On quarterly
 basis, the downward trend in the average level of cost of
living continued to drop, reaching 0.2 per cent in Q2 compared
to Q1. CITUB said that unchanged or decreasing cost of living
values are usual for Q2, attributed to the seasonal drop in food
 prices, and particularly of fruit and vegetables. Another
tangible factor for the dropping values of the indicator is the
reduction of heating prices by 6.2 per cent in April.

Year-on-year the cost of living edged down by 0.3 per cent,
having steadily dropped in the course of nearly 18 months. The
per capita cost of living in poor households as at the end of
June reached 294.52 leva, 0.9 per cent less than in March 2015,
and 1.9 per cent more than the like period in 2014.

No matter that the number of low-income households decreased in
absolute terms, their share in the total is nearly twice as
large as high-income households. The movement is rather from
low-income to medium-income groups, which is a positive
indicator. However, having in mind that the incomes of about
half of the households fluctuate between the poverty line and
the essential cost of living, they are very likely to revert to
the group of poor households.