Inflation at the market

Recently I went to a market in Kyiv to find out what average people, buyers and sellers, think about inflation and whether it really makes a hole in their pockets, as experts and politicians claim. Going from stall to stall and talking to buyers and salespeople, I mostly heard the same story: prices have gone up, life is much harder now. “My pension is the same as it was, while sugar and buckwheat have considerably gone up in price. And food prices have generally shot up by at least 40 percent,” says Liudmyla Oliynyk, a retired teacher.

With obvious pain, employed individuals said the same thing: you can hardly buy anything with your salary. A saleswoman, who declined to reveal her name, pointed out that prices are more or less stable at markets selling manufactured goods, whereas they have skyrocketed at food markets. It’s not difficult to understand that when you barely have enough money for food, you will put off buying clothes. This means that sellers of non-food items are in for hard times.

At the same time, sellers of farm produce, especially those who sell their products they have grown, do not look too happy, either. Olha, a meat seller, says that, although meat and fatback are not so cheap today, very soon they are going to be even more expensive because the cost of feed grain has risen dramatically. It is now too expensive and unprofitable to raise cattle in traditionally agrarian Ukraine: “You will have to shell out all your market earnings to buy fodder.”

A steep hike in food prices brings no relief to producers and sellers. A farmer named Mykola, who raises animals in Stavyshche raion in Kyiv oblast, told The Day that it would be unwise to mark up prices for farm produce now because no one will want to buy it in bulk and at high prices.

Commenting on the traditional market law that he learned through experience, not in a university classroom, the farmer tried to convince me that profit should be generated through turnover, not price. So he advocates farm expansion: where there are two ducks there should be six. This would be good for buyers, producers, and sellers alike — they would earn a profit. But he complains that fodder is expensive, and this means he will hardly manage to implement this concept of universal prosperity.

As was to be expected, some customers and market workers did not have a clear understanding of the word “inflation.” Asked by The Day to give a definition of the phenomenon that is being blamed for all kinds of ills, they shrugged their shoulders in bewilderment. But many others know what it is and said that “inflation is when money is depreciated.” They hit the nail right on the head. A customer named Yevhen gave a brilliant, if unscholarly, definition. Admitting that inflation quickly empties your wallet, he explained, “It is when my wages are not enough to ensure a problem-free existence not only for me personally but also for my family.”

The worst thing is that most of people with whom The Day spoke were sure that prices will increase shortly, by all accounts in early April, i.e., after the elections.

I wish our politicians could hear what their voters say about them in this connection. Almost everyone is sure that prices are being held back for political considerations, but when the parties take their Verkhovna Rada seats, they will begin “leading us around by the nose”, said Ms. Oliynyk. However, this is not stopping “the market people,” who seem to be firmly convinced that even their favorite party consists strictly of swindlers, from supporting it.

The greatest paradox that The Day found during the mini-survey at the market is that many people are prepared to reject the most momentous achievement of the democrats — freedom of information. Disapproving of all talk of imminent inflation, Ukrainians stubbornly do not want to hear about the real state of affairs. “Many statements by the government only increase the fear of the people, who begin to rush about stockpiling food, thus contributing to inflation,” Yevhen said.

The retired teacher gave this example. “When they said on television that there was a shortage of salt in Russia and showed people in Ukraine’s Sumy oblast buying up boxes of it, our market prices also immediately increased.” Although people want to have information, they are not prepared to get a full dose. Is this not food for thought? As it is, politicians already seem to be hiding too much from us.

Not all Ukrainians, however, are afraid “to keep their eyes peeled.” The alternative opinion is that everything is open to discussion, which the example of Chornobyl merely confirms. But people notice mindless word juggling and reject it.

After all is said and done, this market in Kyiv did not create the impression that it is bracing for a catastrophe. Although people are definitely feeling the hand of inflation ransacking their pockets, they don’t have a burning need to call the police. They know this will not help. So they intend to adapt themselves. A saleswoman even said that the current inflation is nothing like it was under the previous government and that now it is easier to live. This is an object lesson to pessimists. Let us hope that all of Ukraine hears this statement.