Skopje, 21 January 2025 (MIA) - The minimal living expenses of a family of four rose by Mden 391 (EUR 6.35) in January compared to December, with an increase of Mden 123 (EUR 2) in expenses for food and beverages, shows data by the Federation of Trade Unions of Macedonia (SSM) published at a press conference Tuesday.

The head of SSM, Slobodan Trendafilov, said minimal expenses on food and beverages rose by 10.43 percent in 12 months, which, he said, would mean inflation isn’t 3.5 percent as shown by the statistics, but over 10 percent.

The value of the minimal consumer basket rose by Mden 6.089 (EUR 98.96) in one year, which is an increase of 10.63 percent.

“It’s not that we, the citizens of Macedonia, live very good lives and have very good wages which we spend and raise the inflation. It’s not the wages that are to blame for the rising rate of inflation, instead the retailers are greedy and get rich on the back of the workers using every opportunity to get richer. We even suspect that their current promises to keep the prices of basic food products unchanged in the coming months is a trick to avoid lowering the prices of products which are dropping on the global markets,” Trendafilov said.

Trendafilov stressed that the price of wheat on global markets has dropped by around 13 percent, while the price of bread in the country has dropped by only a single denar, and there are no reductions in the prices of flour and other products.

According to SSM, wages should be increased by at least 20 percent. The federation of unions said their demand for higher wages and a higher minimum wage is “more than justified”, and they also stressed the need for additional measures by the Government.

Photo: MIA Archive