The NHS trade union on Wednesday presented costs for three versions of the holiday consumer basket - the traditional one, the more modest one and the cheapest one, and said that the price of the traditional basket went up by 21% compared to 2022.

The basket includes food items which will be consumed on Christmas Eve, Christmas, Saint Stephen’s Day, New Year’s Eve and on the New Year’s Day.

Thus, the costs for ensuring the traditional basket went up by 21% to €417 for a three-member family, while the modest one is more expensive by 15%, reaching €176, and the price of the cheapest one went up by 9% to €98 since the previous Christmas and New Year season.

The union leader, Kresimir Sever, said that Croatians are paying the most expensive cod this year, for instance.

Also, prices of pork meat soared and Sever ascribed it to the outbreak of African Swine Fever.

The unionist said that food prices skyrocketed in Croatia by 30% over the last two years, which was above the EU average price rise.

Croatia’s inflation rate is 4.7%, while food prices went up 7.9%, according to the latest statistical data, Sever said.