Food inflation has hit Eastern Europeans hard

Updated on 13/59 on 05/25/2022

• The recent rise in food prices is affecting more people in the eastern part of the European Union than in the West.
• This is partly due to different income levels.

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The recent rise in food prices is affecting more people in the eastern part of the European Union than in the West. In Lithuania, prices in April were 22.1 percent higher than a year earlier, the Federal Statistical Office said in its latest data from Eurostat on Wednesday. Bulgaria (21.0 per cent), Latvia (17.7 per cent) and Hungary (17.3 per cent) were also higher than the EU average of 8.9 per cent. Consumers in Germany had to spend an average of 8.5 per cent more on food and beverages, while prices in Ireland rose by 3.6 per cent.

Different income levels create large financial liabilities when buying food in Eastern Europe

Eastern Europeans are already suffering more from inflation because they already have to spend a large portion of their income on food. A private family in Romania spends 28.3 percent on food, compared to 11.1 percent in Germany. The EU average is 15.9 percent. Differences in income and competitive conditions in the food business are the reasons for the differences. Only the people of Luxembourg and Ireland have relatively lower consumer spending than the Germans. (dpa / mit)