Pensioners in Pristina: We buy a little, just to try them out

“Totally expensive… I don’t know, it wasn’t like that before. We are buying less, just to try them out”, says Hadije Osmani, a 79-year-old pensioner, who receives 190 euros per month.

“Totally expensive...”, says pensioner Hadije Osmani, who receives 190 euros per month.

Pensions in Kosovo range from 100 to 265 euros.

Inflation, meanwhile, reached 14.1 percent in June, compared to the same period last year, according to the data of the Statistics Agency of Kosovo (ASK).

The increase in prices started last year, mainly due to disruptions in supplies caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

Then, Russia’s war in Ukraine, which started at the end of February, gave them a boost. According to KAS data, published on July 21, five kilograms of flour are sold in the market for 3.58 euros, an ordinary bread for 0.50 euros, a liter of oil for 2.82 euros, a liter of milk for 1.10 euros and 30 eggs for 3.95 euros.

“Today, you cannot stay alive with a pension”, says Asllan Asllani, 82 years old.

As a pensioner with higher education, he receives a pension worth 260 euros per month. The things and medicines he bought only a year ago, he says he can no longer buy.

“We also have all the demands that the youth have. But we also have medicines. Every second pensioner is sick, he needs to go to the sea, to the bathroom… He needs to buy some bonbons for his grandson at home, but he can’t do it”says Asllani.

Mybera Kasumi is the president of the Organization of Pensioners in Pristina. She says that from the daily meetings she has with pensioners, she learns that their biggest complaints are related to drug prices.

“Pensioners have different diagnoses of diseases and they cannot buy a drug that costs 20 or 30 euros”she says.

According to KAS data, pharmaceutical products increased by 4 percent in June, compared to the same period last year.

There is no health insurance in Kosovo. Only some citizens can be insured through private companies that offer such services.

The Pensioners’ Center in Pristina is a meeting place for many pensioners from all over Kosovo.

Rrahim Selimi says that he comes three times a week from Podujeva to meet his friends.

They gather only at the restaurant in the center, as, as he says, the prices are cheaper there.

“We don’t spend money here, a sytliač is 70 cents”.

“The prices of bread and medicines are high”he says.

There is no medicine in the ambulance located inside the Retirement Center.

In April, the Government of Kosovo allocated an additional 100 euros for pensioners, as well as some other categories of society, to help them cope with rising prices.

According to official data, about 200,000 pensioners currently live in Kosovo.

Of them, about 148,000 are old-age pension beneficiaries, which means they receive 100 euros per month, while less than 50,000 are contributors. The latter are divided into four categories and receive from 182 to 265 euros per month, depending on the education they had./ Radio Free Europe