Poverty In Bugaria Proved Once Again

This is another set of statistics that yet again show how Bulgarians in the main are living well below the threshold of the expected standard of living. With wages set to remain static there is a nervous country wakening to further job cuts and higher utility bills. Out own family of four here with an income of less than 500 leva a month find it very hard indeed to make ends meet and the expensive winter is looming fast.

A Bulgarian household of four – with two adults and two children – would need 1923 leva a month to live properly, said Lyuben Tomev, director of the Institute of the Social and Trade Union Studies at Bulgaria’s Confederation of Independent Trade Unions.

At the end of June 2009, the montly cost of living of a member of a household of four was 480.70 leva, Tomev said on July 24 2009.

For 2008, the required monthly income was 1884 leva.

The monthly figure is based on a household of four being able to eat a balanced diet, pay utility bills, buy clothes and for the children to get a proper education.

Bulgaria’s National Statistical Institute reported that the current average monthly income per capita is 304.25 leva, meaning that people live with about 63.5 per cent of the necessary means, Bulgarian news agency BTA quoted Tomev as saying.

Tomev said that the prices of products in the Bulgarian consumer basket either remained unchanged or tended to decline.

Sales of perishable and non-perishable goods had gone down, as had employment levels, while incomes remained unchanged and the prevailing policy was to freeze salaries, he said. These factors were strengthening anxiety among Bulgarians about lay ahead in the remainder of the year.

Source: www.sofiaecho.com