How Purchasing Power Changed Over the Last Year

How Purchasing Power Changed Over the Last Year

If Your Salary is 2,000 GEL, its value has decreased by 45.5 GEL and is equivalent to last year’s 1954.5 GEL.

In Georgia the average expenditure of a household is 1,308 GEL According to data by the National Statistics Office, the largest portion of a household’s spending (30%) goes towards food and non-alcoholic beverages. Accordingly, each household spends on average 369 GEL on food and non-alcoholic beverages. In second place are transport costs, coming to an average of 173 GEL per month i.e. 13.1% of overall household spending. In third place with 111 GEL per month are health related costs which account for 8% of overall spending.   

According to the data by GeoStat, the smallest amount of money is spent on clothes and shoes with an average of 44 GEL per month (3.4% of overall spending). The costs related to visits to cafes and restaurant is also relatively low, with an average of 53 GEL and 60 Tetri per month. On average, 48 GEL is spent per month on communication services.

During the last year (from October 2017 to October 2018) the cost of transport saw the biggest increase at 6%. This is most likely related to an increase in oil prices. In second place, based on price increases, are health related costs which increased by 6.1% during the last year. In third place is alcoholic beverages and Tobacco, prices of which have increased by 5.7%.

The price volatility is related to inflation and therefore it is interesting to look at how the purchasing power of citizens has been affected over the last year as a result. As it is known, the change in consumer price index amounted to 2.28% in October 2018 compared to October 2017.

Based on the GeoStat data, the average salary in Georgia (according to 2017 data) is 1000 GEL. 1000 GEL in October 2017 is equivalent to 1022.77 GEL in October 2018 based on the inflation i.e. this year the purchasing power has decreased by 22.7 GEL and equates to 977.3 GEL.

If your salary is 1500 GEL, its value has been decreased by 34.1 GEL as a result of inflation and is equivalent to 1465.9 GEL.

If your income is 2000 GEL, however, its value has decreased by 45.5 GEL and is equivalent to last year’s 1954.5 GEL.