STATE REGULATION OF SOCIAL STANDARDS AND FOOD BASKET IN UKRAINE

Abstract

Food security is considered to be a basic element of the life support system for an individual and the country population as a whole. And the state itself is the guarantor and regulator of meeting the immediate needs of the population through the unrestricted access to food of sufficient quality. This is what guarantees the maintenance of vital activity of the human body. The provision of food products to the population is carried out through a market mechanism, and producer strategies are based on the purchasing power of the population. One of the indicators to measure the level of purchasing power of the population is the consumer basket with a set of food products defined by law. The problem of the interconnection between the consumer basket and substistence minimum as elements of the social standards system is researched by Ukrainian scientists Bolbot AV, Zhebchuk L.L., Sokol M.V. and others. They prove the fact that an array of Ukrainian normative acts in the field of population social protection is chaotic and biased. The relationship between concepts related to social standards is explored, namely: a consumer basket, a subsistence minimum, a consumer set, a consumer budget, and purchasing power. The cost of food basket is calculated and the level of purchasing power of the population is estimated according to the structure of the consumer basket in effect in Ukraine. The emphasis is placed on the share of the grocery basket in cost of living of Ukrainians. The composition of the consumer basket is based on the scientifically proved physiological and social minimum. The size of the consumer basket, in value terms, reflects the cost of living and is used to define the minimal consumer budget. The main purpose of the article is to assess the sufficiency of Ukrainians income for reaching the basic level of social
standards that must guarantee the foundation of human life. Based on this assessment, conclusions should be made on changes in the state regulation of the social sphere. The obtained results illustrate the fact that an able-bodied Ukrainian is capable of purchasing only the food part of the minimum consumer basket within the limits of the funds required by social standards. The food share value for the period under study varies from 81% to 90% of the subsistence minimum. Given the diversity of modern needs, the size of the minimum social standards is critically inadequate. Moreover, if we take into account the fact that, according to domestic experts, the product set structure itself is also imperfect, then the necessity for the state to adjust social standards becomes even more obvious.