Bulgarians' incomes have increased on average by much more money over the last five years, with average salaries and pensions almost doubling by 100 percent. This was stated by the chief economist of the Institute for Market Economics Lachezar Bogdanov, while commenting on the latest data from the National Statistical Institute on inflation in the country in the program "Hello, Bulgaria" on NOVA.
According to official NSI data published yesterday, the accumulated inflation for the last five years (June 2025 compared to June 2020) reached 39.5 percent. Monthly inflation for June is 0.4 percent, and annual inflation is 4.4 percent - the highest in nearly two years.
"Part of the price increase is especially in services, where on the one hand, the higher cost of labor means that we also have higher costs for those who provide services," explained Lachezar Bogdanov. "Therefore, there is also pressure to raise prices, on the other hand, higher incomes mean solvent demand."
The expert emphasized that not everyone has benefited equally from the growth in incomes. "People whose salaries have not jumped by 40 percent are the big losers, but there are obviously people whose salaries have been increased much more, so that we have an average of nearly 100% for these 5 years," he said.
According to the economist's analysis, people with higher incomes "can actually buy more goods and benefit from more services." He emphasized that the final effect "depends on the individual consumption structure" of each household.
According to the NSI, in June 2025, compared to the previous month, the largest increase in prices was in the groups "Entertainment and culture" by 2.8 percent, "Restaurants and hotels" by 1.3 percent, "Alcoholic beverages and tobacco products" by 0.8 percent and "Transport" by 0.7 percent.
A decrease was registered in the groups "Clothing and footwear" by 0.6 percent, "Communications" by by 0.2 percent and "Miscellaneous goods and services" by 0.1 percent.