The Dastarkhan Index by regions

Jusan Analytics team calculated the Dastarkhan Index for all regions of Kazakhstan based on the official statistics for the regions and Shymkent city, while for Almaty and Astana cities was traditionally used Jusan big-data.

Recall that we started calculating the Index for residents of Almaty and Astana cities from May last year, therefore we compared December data with May 2022 for those regions where it was possible in an extended analysis.

Thus, residents of Atyrau region can afford the most portions of Dastarkhan (311), and residents of the North Kazakhstan region can afford the least (136).

Wage growth in most regions did not contribute to an increase in portions due to faster price hikes caused by the seasonal factor for vegetables and problems in the supply of some products.

As a result, the number of Dastarkhan servings for the presented period in the country decreased on average by 10. The most decrease was observed in Turkestan (-24 portions), Kyzylorda (-22), Zhambyl (-19) and Akmola (-16) regions, as well as in Almaty ciy (-20).

The number of servings at May 2022 level was noted in Aktobe and Pavlodar regions, where the price hikes for the Dastarkhan food basket and the growth of wages were approximately at the same level.

And an increase in the number of servings (+8) was observed only in the West Kazakhstan region, it is explained by keeping the cost of the food basket while the wages increase there.

We note that calculating the Dastarkhan Index portions by regions is a way to characterize perceived inflation without denying the official statistics.