Hardly someone will find it difficult to answer which Balkan capital is the most expensive and which cheaper. Very likely as the most expensive capital Athens will be pointed out and as the cheapest – Tirana. What is, however, the ratio between the rest, remains unclear.
The average wage in the Balkans is about 650 euros, leaving countries like Bulgaria (about 450 euros) and Serbia (about 425 euros) down in the ranking. For comparison, since 1 January Romania has increased the minimum wage to 408 euros, while income tax has been reduced from 16 to 10 percent.
If you want to pass through the month with the lowest costs, you must live in Skopje, show data on the Expatistan specialized site, which prepares the international Cost of Living Index. Skopje ranks first with the lowest food prices in the restaurants, while in regard to beer lovers the cheapest option to enjoy your passion will be in Tirana and Sofia pubs.
Sofia occupied 169th place in the Expatistan ranking, ten positions after Belgrade and ten before Skopje. Bucharest ranked in 162nd place, Thessaloniki is ranked at №117, while Athens is №89. The most expensive cities ranked in earlier positions, and cheaper in those at the bottom of the ranking.
Life in Macedonia is 16 percent cheaper than in Bulgaria and rents are 35 percent lower. The life in Serbia is cheaper with 4.5 percent than in our country, while the rents are about 17 percent lower.
It is in Bulgaria that the minimum wage is lowest in the whole EU – €261. This causes even positive indicators such as the petrol price (the lowest level recorded among all EU Member States) to go to minus, as in regard to the income our fuel is expensive.
The figures come against the background of the fast spreading economic crisis in Turkey, where only for a few days the Turkish lira collapsed dramatically. Inflation in the country is currently 16 percent and it could hit 30 percent by the end of the year. If the Turkish lira continues to depreciates against the dollar and the euro, the implementation of the foreign debt of Turkish banks of nearly $ 470 billion will be almost impossible.
The Index of Production Prices in Turkey jumps to 25 percent – this means that foreign producers of goods in Turkey are paying significantly higher prices for raw materials and semi-fabricates due to the drastic depreciation of the Turkish lira. Respectively, a large number of investors turned back to the country in recent times.
