Eurostat has published a comparative price level from 37 European countries. The group of 37 European countries consists of 28 EU members, three EFTA members (Iceland, Norway and Switzerland), then five candidate countries for EU membership (Montenegro, Macedonia, Serbia, Albania and Turkey) and Bosnia and Herzegovina, a potential candidate for EU membership.
In the Eurostat report, clothing is the cheapest in Turkey - 54 percent of the EU average, Bulgaria (80 percent EU average), Macedonia 81 percent, Hungary 84 percent, UK 87 percent, and the most expensive in Sweden (134 percent). In Montenegro, as far as clothing is concerned, Czech Republic, Spain, Portugal, Slovenia, Malta, as well as the countries in the region are cheaper (Albania, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia). In Montenegro, they are close to the European average for audiovisual, photographic and data processing equipment (97 percent). Motor vehicle prices are at 84 per cent of the European average, food and non-alcoholic beverages are 79 percent, alcoholic beverages, and tobacco at 63 percent. Last week, Eurostat announced that the gross domestic product (GDP) per capita according to the purchasing standards in Montenegro last year amounted to 46 percent of the EU average.
In the EU Member States, the highest GDP per capita according to purchasing standards has been recorded in Luxembourg, which is more than two times higher than the EU average. Last year, Montenegro's GDP amounted to about EUR 4.2 billion or 6.634 euros per capita. The real growth rate of GDP, according to Monstat's preliminary figures, was 4.5 percent in the first quarter of this year. Fidelity Consulting considers that as long as the rate of wages’ increase does not follow the GDP growth rate, there cannot be statements about the overall dynamic growth of the economy. Fidelity reported on its Facebook that from 2013 to 2017, the wages increased by six percent, GDP 26 percent, and GDP per capita 23 percent.
"This obviously says that the growth rate of the gross domestic product should not be taken as a parameter of everyday life improvement of a common Montenegrin citizen," said Fidelity. In the Eurostat report published by Monstat, it was stated that in 2017 the level of consumer goods and services prices varied considerably across European countries. Denmark's consumer prices are 42 percent higher than the average in 28 member states, while the cheapest EU member is Bulgaria, whose consumer prices are 52 percent below the EU average. The level of consumer goods and services in Croatia is 67 percent, in BiH and Albania 52 percent, Serbia 51 percent and in Macedonia 47 percent of the European average.
"The given results are based on research conducted within the Purchase Parity project (PKM), which collects prices for more than 2,400 consumer goods and services in 37 European countries. The PKM project is implemented under the leadership of Eurostat and OECD," explained Monstat. The results of the research are presented through the "price level index", which enables the comparison of prices between countries in relation to the EU average. If the price level index is more than 100, the country is considered relatively more expensive compared to the EU average, and if the price index is less than 100, the country is considered relatively cheaper compared to the EU average.
Text by Biljana Matijasevic, on June 27th, 2018, read more at Vijesti
