December 18 (SeeNews) - The average monthly cost of Moldova's consumer basket, measuring the per-capita cost of basic goods and services, fell by 13.9% on the year to 1,085 lei ($88/61 euro) in the third quarter of 2009, the country's Statistics Bureau said on Friday.
The decrease was mainly due to fall in food prices, the statistics office said in a statement.
The average monthly salary in Moldova, one of the poorest European countries, rose by a real 4.5% on the year to 2,575 lei in the third quarter.
Farmers were the lowest paid employees in Moldova with an average monthly salary of 1,485 lei in the third quarter. In contrast, salaries of employees in the financial sector were 4.6 times higher than the average cost of the consumer basket.
(1 euro =17.7016 Moldovan lei)