Belarusians face soaring food prices, official statistics suggest

July 12, BPN. White cabbages, carrots and onions have more than doubled in price in Belarus, according to the official statistics service Belstat.

It said white cabbages cost 2.88 times more, carrots 2.68 times more and onions 2.16 times more than six months ago.

Other food items that saw significant price increases included grapes (65.32 percent), pears (51.95 percent), potatoes (42.48 percent) and beets (30.26 percent).

Some products, however, became cheaper, such as cucumbers (-56.96 percent), buckwheat (-16.95 percent), bananas (-14.23 percent) and vegetable oil (-11.58 percent).

Overall, consumer prices rose by 2.97 percent in the first six months of the year, with food products up by 3.14 percent, non-food products by 0.93 percent and services by 5.45 percent.