Albania’s government plans to increase the minimum gross monthly wage by 2,000 leks to 34,000 leks ($289.9/287 euro), prime minister Edi Rama said.

The increase is part of a new social resilience package aimed at providing medium-term support to citizens in the context of soaring inflation, the prime minister said in a statement on Thursday.

The social assistance package also envisages increases of pensions and social and disability aid, as well as financial support for the electricity bills for the blind, paraplegic and tetraplegics and assistance for the purchase of excise-free fuel for farmers and fishermen, Rama said.

Albania’s average gross monthly wage increased by 5.8% year-on-year to 59,242 leks in the first quarter of 2022, after rising 8.4% in the previous three-month period, the statistical office said in June.

The country’s annual harmonised index of consumer prices rose by 7.2% in July, after increasing by 6.3% in June, the country’s statistical office said last month.

(1 euro = 118.466 leks)