Hartz IV: Experts warn - "Rising food prices threaten the existence"
Created: 02/21/2022 13:06
By: Lisa Mayerhofer
A little more than five euros a day are available to Hartz IV recipients for groceries.
(Iconic image) © Annette Riedl/dpa
A little more than five euros a day are available to Hartz IV recipients for groceries.
Experts warn that rising prices are making a healthy life almost impossible.
Berlin – Food prices will continue to rise this year*.
"According to our surveys, more than two-thirds of food manufacturers are planning further price increases in the coming months," said Timo Wollmershäuser, head of economic activity at the Munich Ifo Institute, recently to
Welt am Sonntag
.
That's more than ever before in reunified Germany.
"Thus, food prices are likely to become a key inflation driver this year."
The economic researchers have therefore upgraded their forecast for the inflation rate in Germany in 2022 to four percent.
The economist Volker Wieland had previously warned of a further increase in the rate of inflation.
When it comes to food prices, the Ifo Institute even expects an increase of seven percent compared to the previous year.
Hartz IV: Around five euros per day for groceries
Klaus-Dieter Gleitze, Managing Director of the Lower Saxony State Poverty Conference, warned that this was a threat to the existence of the poor in particular.
Recipients of Hartz IV* and basic security would have 5.10 euros* daily for groceries, said Gleitze.
"That hasn't been enough for a long time at the back and front".
With inflation at seven percent, there would be another 30 cents less available for food every day.
Corona one-time aid of 1,000 euros and an increase in the standard rates for singles to 600 euros are therefore urgently needed as an immediate measure.
Hartz IV: Healthy nutrition becomes a challenge
The non-party opponent of Frank-Walter Steinmeier (SPD) in the 2022 presidential election, Gerhard Trabert, also has a clear opinion in an interview with kreiszeitung.de *.
The Mainz doctor for the homeless, who was nominated by the left, lost to Steinmeier, but his commitment to the poor also met with approval from other political camps.
Steinmeier and Trabert now want to develop a timetable for joint activities.
For Trabert, according to the newspaper, poverty and health problems go hand in hand.
He criticizes the prejudices against Hartz IV recipients: "I keep hearing too little exercise, poor nutrition, smoking, drinking: I don't want to release anyone from personal responsibility, but this risky behavior also has to be seen in the context of the life situation.
Being poor is stress, including mental stress.
If I also have around 5.20 euros* available as an adult, then I can't eat healthily.
The Institute for Nutritional Sciences has pointed this out again and again."
With the current Hartz IV level*, it is impossible to live healthily.
*Note: In the Hartz IV rate, 34.7 percent is earmarked for food. With a standard rate of 449 euros, this results in around 5.19 euros per day in a month with 30 days. For 31 days, the average rate is around five euros a day.
With material from the dpa
*Merkur.de and kreiszeitung.de are offered by IPPEN.MEDIA
