Latvia Reduces Food Budget for Ukrainian Refugees - Economists Suggest Switching to Liepāja Market Offerings

The Ministry of Economics proudly announced that starting next year, food compensation for Ukrainian refugees will be reduced from 10 to 5 euros per day. A ministry representative explained: "We calculated — if a person eats only potatoes and bread, that's perfectly sufficient. Plus, at Liepāja market you can buy a whole sack of potatoes for two euros!"

Meanwhile, the accommodation period is being shortened to 60 days, because as one ministry employee admitted: "We think two months is enough to learn Latvian and solve Riga's housing crisis. If that doesn't work out, you can always go to Liepāja — apartments there cost as much as lunch in Riga."

Liepāja resident Maija Bērziņa commented: "Well, we've been living on a five-euro daily food budget for years. You just need to know where to shop — at our market you can eat your fill for three euros, and still have pocket money left for the tram."

Total funding has been reduced from 65 to 39 million euros, because as an economist pointed out: "Inflation has decreased, so we can pay less too. Besides, people eat less in winter — everyone knows that in cold weather the body consumes fewer calories." In Riga they're still trying to understand this logic, but in Liepāja they've long been accustomed to creative mathematics.