Gavrilita: Unfortunately, the War Will Continue to Inflate Prices

Natalia Gavrilita believes that the high level of inflation is partly caused by the consumption structure. "So, if we look at the structure of household consumption, we see that while in any country in Western Europe a family spends, say, 5% of its income on energy bills, almost a quarter of households here in Moldova spend 25% of their income on energy bills. Food is also a much more important part of spending. We have always had this imbalance in our current account, meaning we import more than we export, we are financed by remittances. Now we have inflation, which for the most part is not due to domestic factors. It happens because of international prices, but it also affects us disproportionately because of the economic structure and because of lower incomes," the prime minister said in a program on TVRMoldova, cited by unimedia.info. "Because of the war, unfortunately, prices will continue to rise, but this means that farmers who invest will also have good prices for the products they will sell. After all, this is also a value, the more we produce and export, the better we replenish the budget, and we will be able to offer support programs for the population in terms of pensions, salaries, benefits, etc.," the prime minister added. According to the data of the National Bank of Moldova, the inflation rate in March reached 22.16% The National Bureau of Statistics reports that the average consumer prices in March 2022 increased by 22.16% compared to March 2021 (the last 12 months), including food products by 27.04%, non-food products by 17.99% and services offered to the population by 21.35%. Point