Minimum consumer basket surged 24.4% in 2008

The minimum consumer basket in 2008 was about 1,368.1 lei per one person a month, surging 24.4% year on year, Info-Prim Neo has learnt from the National Statistics Bureau. The growth is explained both by growing prices of food, and by the changes occurring in the structure of consumer expenses of the population and, especially, by the rise of the weight of the expenses for non-edible products and services. The subsistence minimum had maximum values for the urban areas (1,482.8 lei) and, respectively, minimum indices for the rural areas (1,287.6 lei.) This discrepancy is determined by the differences in the structure of the food basket and the structure of the consumer expenses of the households from the urban and rural milieus. In terms of age categories, the maximum value of the subsistence minimum rests with the working population – 1,446.5 lei, and especially men – 1,534.7 lei. For pensioners, the subsistence minimum was 1,167.4 lei and accounts for 85.3% of the average value for the whole population. The average monthly pension by January 1, 2009, was 646.4 lei and it covers 55.4% of the value of the subsistence minimum for this category of population. The subsistence minimum for children is 1,267.4 lei a month on average. In 2008, the average salary of an employee was 2,529.7 lei. The subsistence minimum for the population able to work was 1,446.5 lei. All in all, the subsistence minimum for the working population could be covered by all the employees, except for the ones from pisciculture. As for the bankers, their salaries exceeded 3.8 times the subsistence minimum, while the salaries of the employees from transports, communications and constructions are 2.4 times bigger than the subsistence minimum.