Income, Poverty and Prices: Trends of 2016

In May 2016, households’ real disposable cash income, real wages and the real size of granted pensions decreased as compared to the respective period of the previous year. In Q1 2015, the poverty rate amounted to 15.7%, having fallen somewhat as compared to the same period of the previous year which situation is related to a dramatic reduction of prices on a number of food products included in the consumer goods basket. In H1 2016, consumer prices rose by 7.8% as compared to the respective period of 2015, having virtually returned to moderate values after a 16% surge in H1 2015. With further reduction of the rate of inflation, the poverty rate may fall this year. At the same time, the number of overdue mortgage loans and the volume of overdue mortgage debt are growing. Credit burden is particularly high among households with children.