Bread has risen in price by over 43% since 2021, with its price continuing to rise both with and without VAT - this is according to an analysis by the Institute for Social and Trade Union Research at the Confederation of Bulgarian Trade Unions, BNT reports.
Experts emphasize that nearly half of the increase in the price of bread for this period occurred after the introduction of the zero VAT rate for it. The exemption of bread and flour from this tax took place in July 2022, the union recalls.
The analysis of union experts shows that since the beginning of 2021, the cumulative growth of inflation, measured by the consumer price index, is exactly 29.9 percent. However, the CITUB adds that this is an average indicator that cannot represent the real level of personal inflation of each consumer.
Therefore, it is necessary to look at the inflation of individual goods from the small consumer basket, which are present on the table every day, since their price change gives a more accurate idea of the lost real purchasing power of the majority of people. For example, the cumulative inflation of bread and cereals alone for the same period is 43.3%, and the difference of 13.4 percentage points compared to the total cumulative inflation for the period is significant for such a sensitive commodity as bread.
Express surveys by the union showed that after the introduction of the zero VAT rate, bread became cheaper by between 1% and 11% in the short term, but its price is increasing in the long term.
The CITUB adds that they have never insisted on raising the VAT rate for any commodity, and even propose a reduction in the total rate from 20% to 15%. The unionists specify that their principled position has always been that VAT rates should be restored to where they were before the pandemic, since these were short-term measures as a result of a situation that no longer exists.