Slug:
The
introduction of the Euro in 2002 has prompted an increase in prices for all
products in Kosovo—basic necessities like groceries are no exception.
Even
as prices have gone up, now four years after the armed conflict, prices have
relatively stabilized. Even so,
purchasing power across Kosovo has greatly diminished due to widespread
unemployment.
Link:
The
introduction of the Euro in 2002 prompted an increase in prices for all products
in Kosovo—basic necessities like groceries included.
Even
as prices have gone up-- now four years after the armed conflict, prices have
relatively stabilized. Even so,
purchasing power across Kosovo has greatly diminished due to widespread
unemployment.
Hello
and welcome to UNMIK on air,
Walking
down the streets of Prishtina one may notice the large number of mini-markets
and grocery stores lining the street.
As the population in Pristina has nearly doubled in recent years- the
number of stores accommodate Pristina’s larger population with much needed
goods.
Even
as stores and grocery marts are stocked with products-- prices for food and
other basic necessities are simply too high for the average family in
Kosovo-- making it a daily hardship in
Kosovo to put food on the table.
Xhafer
Dragusha is the owner of a chain of mini-markets throughout Kosovo and he says
in the past year of business he ahs not seen prices for products increase
except for those products that are harder to find and specialty goods.
Dragusha, who owns a
mini-market in Peja says he has not seen any significant differences in prices
for goods throughout Kosovo- but he has noticed the buying capability of
shoppers has decreased dramatically (since when—can we say “in the last year?”).
Dragusha: We also own a mini-market in Peja and for the time being the prices are the same as in Prishtina. When we started working there were rather major differences since there were more internationals in Prishtina and the buying capability was higher. Now the prices are the same since there was a decrease in the buying capability of the citizens.
According to the Department for Development of Private Sector and
Investments within Kosovo’s Ministry of
Trade and Industry, the average family of seven spends 61,2% of their combine
income on food and drinks.
Staple
products like bread, milk, oil, flour, coffee, eggs, apples and wood cost more
or less the same in all parts of Kosovo.
Dragana a grocery store worker in Gracanica says people come into the
market and can only buy the barest of these staple necessities. According to Dragana, few people can afford
what can now be considered a luxury- having a coffee or a tea in the bar:
Dragana: What to tell you, people are buying now less then before,
just some essential goods ... bread, milk, eggs ... and all the rest just
sometimes, but surely less then before. Much less then before.
Dragana says customers in no longer earn enough money:
Dragana: Probably that's
the reason because people have no good salaries to fit up to the end of the
month. You take just essential things and all the rest - you just economize as
much as you can.
According to a study conducted by RiInvest a Kosovo based NGO, also sponsored by United Nations Development Program and USAID: some 12 percent of Kosovo’s population cannot afford a loaf of bread to put on their table.... and the World Bank estimated in 2003 that nearly 50 percent of Kosovans are considered to live in poverty, having less than 2 Euros a day to spend.
Isa Mustafa, an economist and researcher for RiInvest, says that the present high rate of poverty is also having a dramatic impact on the life expectancy of Kosovo’s population.
Isa Mustafa: “The report has estimated that nearly 20
percent of the population lives less than 40 years, an argument that tells a
lot about the food available and the life standard of this percentage of the
population and that their living conditions do not enable a longer life.”
The ramifications of poverty do not stop there—Mustafa adds that not only do life expectancies decrease, but poor families are forced to sacrifice educating their children. According to RiInvest’s report, approximately 20 percent of poor families in Kosovo cannot afford to send their children to school… Mustafa points to two contributing factors:
Isa Mustafa: “The first reason is that these families
cannot afford to pay for the clothes, books and other school items. The second
reason is that the poor families have to choose between two alternatives, to
attend school or to work. In this case around 6.5 percent of the surveyed have
said that if they were obliged to decide for their children to leave the school
or to start working, they would choose to start working because they have no
other source of income.”
So as poverty
stricken families are faced with the difficult decision to send children to
work odd jobs in order to keep food on the table…Many here predict a bleak economic future for Kosovo’s
population.
Even as Kosovo’s
economy has opened up to outside trade and a wider variety of goods are now on
the shelves, the people in Kosovo still cannot afford to buy anything beyond
the essentials…
That is all for this edition of UNMIK on air. Thanks for listening and stay tuned for more.