MORE THAN 2 MILLION BULGARIANS STILL LIVE BELOW POVERTY LINE – KNSB STUDY

At the end of 2015, the cost of living of a four-member household in Bulgaria was 560.55 BGN per member, revealed the figures of the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions in Bulgaria (KNSB) on 25th of January.

The annual cost of living has dropped by 0,1%. After the wages and pensions were kept unchanged for 6 months, in 2015 the average wage increased by 7,8% and the minimum wage increased by 8,8%, KNSB experts say.

Worrying fact, according to them, is that more than 2 million people in Bulgaria still live below the poverty line of 295 BGN.

1,5 million Bulgarians live with 561 BGN per month, the data shows.

As a whole, wages and pensions remain at low levels, KNSB say. This however led to increase of domestic consumption by 2% only in the final quarter of 2015, whilst there was a decrease in the previous months.

According to the figures, the number of low paid workers increased by 37,000 per year.

480,000 are the working poor, which according to the Head of the Trade Union, Plamen Dimitrov, is a worrying trend. He added that there were two issues, which were important for dealing with poverty: the income and the income tax.

He noted that there were real possibilities for growth in a number of sectors. Dimitrov called for more active use of the 50 billion euro under the European Commission's investment plan, especially in the areas of infrastructure and innovations as a way to achieve sustainable economic growth.

There are approximately 230,000 lost jobs during the economic crisis, Dimitrov added.