Trivic asked Dodik if he knew what the average union consumption basket was and how much the average salary covered.

Regarding Milorad Dodik’s statement about the average wage being 1,403 km, he spoke about this this morning on RTRS, so he referred me to this and I wanted to ask him if he knows what the average consumer basket of the unions is and what the average wage is. The President of the Popular Front, Jelena Trivić, said that the wage covers the consumer basket.

She added that Dodik skipped saying that the union consumer basket in Republika Srpska amounted to 2,614 km and the average salary covered only 53.6%.

– I would also like to remind him that in 2007 the coverage of the package, measured by the same methodology, was 57%, which means that the standard of living in Republika Srpska is falling – Trivic said, adding:

– Considering that Dodik has been stressing for years that the average salary in Republika Srpska is higher than in Serbia, I would also like to tell him that the average net salary in Serbia in April was 96,614 dinars or 1,615 kilograms, which means that the average salary in Serbia is 15.11% higher than in Republika Srpska, Trivic said.

She added that Dodik had already fulfilled his promise of an average wage of 1,000 km in 2018, while the average wage in Republika Srpska did not reach that amount until July 2021. Trivic said this showed that Dodik often paid attention to her speeches, even though he was late!

– Dodik also talked about investment. He mentioned that investment was 2.2 billion, I corrected him. Fixed asset investment in 2023 was 2.6 billion, which is only 16.25% of the projected GDP of 16 billion in 2023. Trivic stressed that this is the most telling of the economic situation in Republika Srpska, because any figure below 20% shows that the source of our growth is not investment, but consumption.

She added that Dodik said various things on the show, including that the beautifully landscaped courtyards of our people proved that people live well here.

– No problem, the yard is really a proof of the good life, especially the yard of houses owned by our people, who come from Austria, Slovenia and Italy for weekends and holidays to arrange. Without their remittances from abroad, we would be statistically nowhere. About remittances on another occasion – said Trivic.