Although households in Kosovo spend more than half their budget on nonalcohol food and drink, this category has significantly less weight on the formula that the Kosovo Statistics Agency ( AKS) uses inflation measures.

According to KSF data, non-alcohol food and drink account for about 55 percent of the household economies’ consumption spending. However, in inflation count for 2025 and 2026, this category has been given weight of only about 32 to 33 percent.

This disagreement between how families spend money and weight that food has on the official inflation index raises questions about the accuracy of measuring price hikes.

In the latest monthly report, AKS reported that inflation in October reached 7.1 per cent compared to the same month last year.

To draw this figure, the Agency measures price change in 13 categories of expenditures, ranging from food, clothing and residence to transportation and other services. A certain weight is assigned to each category in the final calculation.

But according to the 2022 Family Economics Budget Survey, nonalcohol food and drink make up 55 percent of households’ expenses in Kosovo, while their inflation index is much lower.

For legalist at Dublin Technological University, Albian Krasniqi, this distinction is huge and requires explanation by the Statistics Agency.

In a statement to Koha.net, Krasniqi has said that the weight of the categories in measuring inflation should not necessarily be identical to that of the Family Economics Budget Poll, but must forward approximately the same trends.

So it’s a huge disrepute based on the Family Economics Budget and Weight Treaty that they’ve put into inflation. Of course, this does not mean that the weight in measuring inflation is the same as it is in the Family Economics Budget Agreement, but it has to approximately convey similar trends, he said.

Changing weights also affect the outcome of inflation. According to estimates presented by this medium, if the spending categories were given weights in the real family basket, inflation in February of this year would be 7.7 percent instead of 6 percent officially reported.

Meanwhile, for October, reported inflation of 7.1 percent would be 5.3 percent if the weight of household expenses were used.

The gap between Kosovo and the countries of the region is also pronounced. According to the comparison made by the media in question, in neighbouring countries the gap between the budget part that families spend on food and weight of this category in the inflation index is drawn from two to five percentage points.

In Kosovo, this difference amounts to nearly 23 percentage points. In Albania, for example, according to INSTAT data, families spend 39.6 percent of their food budgets, while the weight of this inflation rate is 34.1 percent.

Time.net has requested clarification from the Statistics Agency on the basis of the weight formula, the reasons why food has been given 32.7 percent weight and the impact this may have on measuring inflation, but the AK has not returned.

Krasniqi has also raised the issue of lack of transparency for the way these burdens are determined.

A glove, an official explanation from the Statistics Agency, is missing for the weight of food products over the years. One theoretical reason why it can lower the weight of food products in the consumer basket is because real wages and the economy are growing. But if you look at the data, even World Bank estimates, is that real wages adapted to price rates have increased only 1% per year, he said.

The weight of food in the inflation index has seen a steady decline in recent years. In 2023 it was 38 percent, in 2024 it dropped to 35 percent, and in 2025 it dropped to 32.1 percent.

Source Layer: Insander