Consumer Shopping Basket Up by €5 Since Start of the Year

The cost of a consumer shopping basket has risen by €5 since the beginning of the year, according to the Coordination Centre under the Euro Mechanism.

A basket of 27 basic food items, including fruit and vegetables sold at wholesale prices, now costs €57, officials reported. They attributed the upward movement primarily to seasonal factors.

Institutions have also noted that since the country joined the eurozone there have been 110 recorded cases of attempted payments using counterfeit money, including so-called “prop” or replica banknotes. Police have also identified an advertisement offering fake euros on the social media platform TikTok.

Vladimir Ivanov, head of the Coordination Centre for the Euro:

“The General Directorate of National Police has received a report from a banking institution about a renewed increase in cases involving counterfeit euro banknotes with denominations of €20, €50, €100, €200 and €500. Since the beginning of the year, a total of nine counterfeit banknotes have been identified at the bank. In response, inspections, operational search activities and investigative actions have been launched to identify those responsible.”