Macedonian Government to Adopt New Consumer Basket Metric in September

The Macedonian government is set to introduce a new "average consumer basket" from September, intended to serve as a statistical basis for economic policy. The metric has been drafted and approved by the Economic‑Social Council and is being aligned with data from the State Statistics Office, Deputy Minister of Economy Marjan Risteski said. Risteski emphasized that the new basket should not be confused with the minimum consumption basket published by trade unions, noting that its purpose is to provide more relevant figures for crafting laws, measures and economic decisions.

The announcement follows a debate over the basket’s methodology and its comparison with the union‑based basket, which has been claimed to be about 13% cheaper. While the government argues that the new basket reflects average household consumption, critics point out that details such as family size, regional price differences and housing costs have not been fully disclosed, raising questions about its accuracy and impact on wage and social policy.