As official statistics continue to indicate a growth in the well-being of Ukrainians, experts believe that real inflation is spiraling up, according to KyivWeekly.

Thus, while according to the State Statistics Service, since the beginning of the year the average nominal wage grew nearly 20% from UAH 2,297 in January to UAH 2,749. Taking into account inflation, which grew 4.1%, the increase was a mere 7.6%.

“The inflation index is understated from the outset because food products account for over 52% of people’s expenses and housing utilities – another 30%. Both are rapidly becoming more expensive, much faster than, for example, industrial products, which are also included in the calculations of the inflation index,” former First Deputy Labor and Social Policy Minister Pavlo Rozenko told KW.

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Director of the Kyiv School of Economics Oleksandr Rohozynskiy expressed concerns that the further increase of the minimum wage will trigger a further growth of unemployment. “When the minimum wage is increased, the well-being of people with low incomes is essentially dwindles. Different studies show that in countries, where the minimum wage is higher, the number of unemployed among the least protected categories of the population is greater. This is because there are no employers willing to pay more money for cheap and unqualified labor,” he said as quoted by Kyiv Weekly.