Cash social assistance for individuals from April to October this year amounts to 11.674 dinars, which is 229 dinars higher than in the previous half-year. Danilo Ćurčić from the Initiative for Economic and Social Rights A 11 tells "Vreme" that this "increase" is the result of adjustment with the consumer price index in the previous six months, but also that this adjustment does not fully correspond to inflation and the overall increase in the cost of living
What can be done with 229 dinars? Let's say, for a three-person household in the table for the minimum consumer basket for January 2024 a kilogram of rice (for one month) was 304,80 dinars. So, it's not even enough for rice. But, for example, a kilogram of pasta for a month is 225,03 dinars.
DIVISION OF MEALSDistribution of free meals in a soup kitchen in Rakovica / Photo: Rade Prelić/Tanjug
Cash social assistance for an individual from April to October this year amounts to 11.674 dinars, 229 dinars more than in the previous half-year, it says. New economy.
For each subsequent person in the family, cash social assistance in that period will amount to 5.837 dinars, and for a child up to 18 years of age - 3.502 dinars.
Which means that the amount of social assistance for a family of three would amount to 21.013 dinars.
What exactly is that increase?
Danilo Ćurčić from the Initiative for Economic and Social Rights A 11 tells "Vreme" that the announced "increase" in cash social assistance at first glance sounds like it is some kind of real increase that makes life easier for people who depend on social assistance.
"Although, of course, mathematically it is an increase, in reality, it is an amount of 229 dinars, which is the result of alignment with the consumer price index in the previous six months and is intended to serve to preserve some kind of real value of cash social assistance," he points out. Curcic.
Pensioners_poverty_07Photo: Milovan Milenković
He adds that this adjustment does not fully respond to inflation and the overall increase in the cost of living.
"The regular indexing that takes place every April 1 and October 1 is insufficient, just like the amount of social assistance, which for an individual is not even 100 euros per month, and most of them only receive it for nine months during the calendar year," emphasizes Ćurčić .
Every fifth citizen is at risk of poverty
According to the Law on Social Protection (Article 81), it is prescribed that the right to cash social assistance belongs to an individual, that is, a family, who, through their work, income from property or from other sources, earn income less than the amount of cash social assistance.
However, New Economy writes, in the event that one of the household members earns any income, it is subtracted from the established social assistance, so the difference is paid out as cash social assistance.
Photo: Marija JankovićPhoto: Marija Janković
For example, if one of the members of a family of three earns an income of 6.000 dinars per month, 15.013 dinars (21.013 dinars minus 6.000 dinars) will be paid to the family as cash social assistance.
An alternative to such a system would be, says Ćurčić, first in the amendments to the Law on Social Protection, which would foresee a significant increase in cash social assistance, so that it can respond to the real needs of people who depend on it, and later its indexation through a formula that implies an increase in relation to 50 percent inflation and 50 percent in relation to wage growth, as is done with pensions.
"It is one of the possible models, we are open to hearing other proposals or criticisms of this proposal of ours, but I am afraid that in reality we are very far from any discussion about the need for a radically different approach to the social protection system", emphasizes our interlocutor .
Because it is indicative, adds Ćurčić, that in conditions where the number of beneficiaries of the Social Card has already been reduced by over 44.000 since the beginning of the implementation of the Law on the Social Card, in his presentation the mandate for the composition of the new Government, Miloš Vučević, did not mention the issue of reform "not a single letter" of this system or the fact that, according to the data of the Republic Institute of Statistics, every fifth citizen is at risk of poverty.
"In such conditions, we have nothing to hope for." So these 'increases', which we are talking about now, will be the only increases in cash social assistance that we are talking about", concludes Ćurčić.
What can be bought with this money?
The amount of the minimum consumer basket for the month of January this year was 52.775,41 dinars, and the average consumer basket was 102.044,14 dinars.
They deducted one-sixth of the total amount to cover utility costs, chose the cheapest items from the list of basic foodstuffs: eight white breads, a liter of oil, five kilograms of flour, 10,5 liters of milk, four liters of yogurt, 400 grams of coffee, a kilogram of sugar; there are also 30 eggs, about six kilograms of meat, two milk chocolates, about five kilograms of potatoes, four kilograms of cabbage, one bar of soap, and a pack of pads and 10 rolls of toilet paper.
"This amount of necessities cost 9.931 dinars, and it is absolutely insufficient for survival and the normal satisfaction of the basic life needs of one person", they wrote at the time from this Initiative.
And they concluded that - "financial social assistance in Serbia is not enough even for survival, let alone for living in dignity, and therefore its urgent reform is necessary."
Because how can you survive the month with this money?
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