Serbia Has Lowest Surveyed Salaries

Belgrade | 18 September 2009 | Bojana Barlovac
 

Belgrade's shopping mall

Serbians have the lowest salaries and least purchasing power of Balkan residents covered by a four-state survey, conducted by the Croatian branch of Nielsen analysis group.

The average monthly salary in Serbia is €348. In Bosnia and Herzegovina the average is €407 per month, followed by €730 in Croatia. Slovenians earn the most on average at €922 per month.

The survey was carried out in the four former Yugoslav republics, taking into account the average net salaries and purchasing power of residents. The ranking was arrived at using the prices of five characteristic products: a litre of beer; one kilogramme of washing powder; toothpaste; a kilogramme of coffee; and a box of cigarettes.

In terms of purchasing power, the average monthly salary in Serbia is sufficient for 377 litres of beer, while a Slovenian can afford 542 litres of beer per month.

The Serbian Statistics Office said that the average take-home salary in July was €348, which is a nominal increase of 2.5%, and 3.5% increase in real terms, on the average salary in June 2009. 

Compared with the same month in 2008, Serbians' average net salary increased 10.7% in nominal, and 2.5% in real terms.

According to Eurostat, some food prices in Serbia are amongst the highest in the region, and are even higher than average prices in the EU. 

Nonetheless, Eurostat, which monitors 36 countries, reported last month that only prices in Bulgaria, Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina are lower than in Serbia. 

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