Podgorica, (MINA-BUSINESS) – According to the Training, Information and Trade Union Research Centre (CEISI) of the Union of Free Trade Unions (USSCG), the union consumer basket for the first quarter of this year amounts to €2,090.

This is 1.45 percent or €45, or 2.2 percent, more compared to the previous quarter. 

Of the ten cost categories defined in the Methodology for Calculating the Standard Consumer Basket, as many as five categories saw an increase in the first quarter: food costs rose by 2.38 percent, household maintenance costs by 4.55 percent, housing and utilities costs by 1.92 percent, personal hygiene and healthcare product costs by 6.9 percent, and sports and recreation costs by 14.29 percent. 

Based on prices collected for 136 food items from the three largest retail chains in Montenegro, the cost of food products in the first quarter was determined to be €645.

“Compared to last year’s fourth quarter, when this category of expenses amounted to €630, there was an increase of €15, or 2.38 percent. This rise indicates a mild but continuous trend of price increases in basic food items, despite the measures implemented by the state through actions to limit the prices of selected products,” USSCG stated in a press release.