site.btaQ1 2015 Cost of Living Is 563.21 Lv - Trade Union

Q1 2015 Cost of Living Is 563.21 Lv  - Trade Union

Sofia, April 30 (BTA) - The monthly per capita cost of living in
 a family of four with two dependent children amounted to 563.21
 leva at the end of March, the Institute for Social and Trade
Union  Research with the Confederation of Independent Trade 
Unions in Bulgaria (CITUB) said Thursday. A household consisting
 of two adults and two children need some 2,253 leva monthly to
cover their spending on food, education, healthcare and housing
by average Bulgarian standards.

The cost of living has risen by 0.5 per cent compared to the
preceding quarter, the same level year-on-year following a trend
 of consistent decline for 18 months.

According to CITUB, the quarterly rate of cost of living
increase is indicative of slight upward fluctuations, but this
is due to the higher prices of foods conditioned by the seasonal
 character of fresh vegetables and fruit.

Non-food average levels continued to decline, both quarterly and
 year-on-year. This is mainly due to international oil price
dynamics from the end of 2014 and the beginning of 2015. The
effect of the continuing downward trend in oil prices reflects
mainly in transport and logistics, fuels and oil prices having
dropped by 13.9 per cent on an annual basis.

The scope of EU and euro-zone countries is expanding, with 12 of
 the EU-28 reporting year-on-year deflation in March, while the
rest remain at previous levels or report a slight increase of
0.1 to 0.9 per cent. Deflation of -0.1 per cent has been
measured in the euro-zone and as an average in EU-28. Bulgaria
continues to be present at the top of the list of highest
deflation, (-1.1 per cent), but now in the wake of Greece (-1.9
per cent), Cyprus (-1.4 per cent) and Poland (-1.2 per cent),
the press release said.

According to CITUB, another important indicator is the limited
consumption of households - a persistent trend since 2007 when
it peaked at 11.3 per cent. The year 2014 recorded year-on-year
increase of household consumption by a mere 2 per cent following
 a 2.3 per cent decline in 2013. This is indicative of the fact
that deflation did not lead to a considerable change in the
structure of household consumption.

The claims that dropping prices benefits consumers because they
can buy more goods with the same income have proved hollow so
far, CITUB says. 

The consistent maintenance of deflation for 19 months now is
unquestionably indicative of continuing decline of consumer
consumption. The main reasons are low incomes, high regional
unemployment and poverty levels. In turn, deflation restricts
business investments and costs, which leads to restriction of
household incomes and from there - slower economic growth, CITUB
 said.