Small pensions, high prices: pensioners count every penny at the market

Rising market prices are increasingly taking a toll on pensioners' budgets. Many return home with only a handful of vegetables, while others leave empty-handed altogether, driven away by ever-climbing prices.

Pensions barely cover bills and essential medications, meaning that a medical check-up or a set of tests has become, for many, a luxury they can no longer afford.

What you can buy with 100 RON

One pensioner headed to the market with just 100 RON in her purse, intending to see what food she could buy to last her the next few days.

Tomatoes, potatoes, onions, fruit and dairy products have all risen sharply in price compared to previous years, and for those living on small pensions every leu counts. Meat, cheese and other products once considered everyday staples are now regarded as luxuries. Pensioners say they no longer buy what they want, only what they can afford.

After comparing prices at several stalls, the woman managed to buy only a few vegetables and the bare essentials — just enough, however, to keep herself fed for a few days.

Against a backdrop of continuously rising prices, for many elderly people the question is no longer what to buy, but what to give up in order to make it through from one month to the next.