The trade union's consumer basket for September this year amounts to 1,930 Bosnian marks and is 123 marks lower than the consumer basket for the previous month, Federation of Independent Trade Unions of BiH (SSSBiH) said Friday.

The average monthly salary paid in the Federation entity (FBiH) in July this year was 971 Bosnian marks (some €460) and is 18 marks (approx €9) higher than the average salary paid in June this year. This salary is only able to cover 50.30 percent of the basket as calculated by the Trade Union Federation.

When calculating the consumer basket, the average salary paid in the Federation of BiH was taken into account, as well as the minimum living costs of a family of four consisting of two adults and two children, one of whom is in high school and the other in elementary school, Trade Union Federation said.

The structure of the consumer basket consists of food (42.4 percent share in the consumer basket), housing and utility services (16.1 percent), hygiene and health maintenance (7.9 percent), education and culture (5.7 percent), clothing and footwear (15.5 percent), transportation (7.2 percent), and household maintenance (5.2 percent).

In the food category, prices from three shopping centres were used for 84 items. When it comes to hygiene and maintaining health, the costs for 12 items are included, and for housing and utility services the costs for six items were calculated, the Union said.