In Bucharest, the consumer basket containing basic food items has risen in price by 40 percent in just over a year

The online edition of the economic paper announced on Thursday that they analyzed the change in the price of food included in the consumer basket based on the price monitor operated by the Romanian Competition Council, which was calculated based on the prices used in the three largest grocery store chains. According to the newspaper’s calculations, the consumer basket cost 80 lei (6,364 forints) in October 2021, while it cost 110 lei (8,750 forints) in January of this year. This means that a resident of Bucharest paid 40 percent more for the basic foods included in the consumer basket in less than a year and a half.

The national average net salary was 3,544 lei (281,686 forints) in October 2021, while in November of last year – this is the most recent data – it rose to 4,141 lei (329,416 forints). This means an increase of 17 percent. In December last year, the Romanian annual inflation rate was 16.4 percent, so that food prices rose by 22 percent. Among the staple foods used in the consumer basket by the newspaper, bread went up by 25 percent, flour by 30 percent, milk by 70 percent, while the price of cooking oil doubled – read in Ziarul Financiar.