Romanians Spend Over Half Of Monthly Budget On Food, Utility Bills - Survey

05.20.2011 By Florentina Dragu

Romanian households spend more than half of their monthly budgets on food, gas and electricity bills, ranking first among EU countries, UniCredit said in a presentation at the EBRD annual meeting in Kazakhstan Friday.

Romanians allocate 54% of their monthly spending budget for food items and utility bills, the survey noted.

The eastern European country is followed by Lithuania, with 40% of the monthly spending budget, Bulgaria (39%) and Slovakia (37%).

At the opposite end, the British only spend 12% of their monthly budgets on food and utility bills, followed by nationals in Denmark (15%) and Austria (16%).

Higher energy and food prices could negatively influence household consumption and may seriously affect low-income population, UniCredit said.

On the other hand, Romanians also own the largest number of troubled houses, with 43% homes lacking basic facilities like toilets or showers, the survey noted.

The numbers are nearly threefold above CEE average and around 15 times higher than the eurozone average.