European Union: More than 20 percent inflation

Riga A pack of Barilla noodles, 500 grams, can cost just over four euros in Latvia’s capital Riga, depending on the supermarket. A liter of whole milk is available for EUR 1.80, a packet of butter for EUR 2.40. The prices are as high as in Germany, sometimes even higher. And this despite the fact that the average salaries are far below.

Slow inflation rates within the euro zone will fall though again. But in the Baltic States Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania the rise in prices is meanwhile affecting the economic substance of many people. Also in Poland and Hungary people are groaning more and more under the massive increase in the cost of living.

Last autumn it became clear that more and more Estonians are using their savings to inflation to balance. In Latvia, private households went deeper into debt in order to still be able to pay their everyday bills. Consumers also took out significantly more credit in Lithuania, where food prices rose by 36 percent in 2022.